Clashes between police and locals in 'Ropai'

July 4, Kathmandu. A clash has broken out between farmers and police who went to cultivate their land in Khokana of Lalitpur. Police also fired tear gas during the clash. The people of Khokna have been protesting against the occupation of land and ancestral land in the name of development. The locals have set up a joint planting program in Khadka field after they were not even allowed to cultivate the land for which they had taken information for acquisition recently.


Tensions had risen since the morning when police tried to stop them. Some locals stopped the police before they reached the field, while others started digging. Tractors were used for transplanting. The clash took place after the police tried to move forward by calling more teams. Some policemen have been injured when locals pelted stones at them. Police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.


Preparations are underway to build Kathmandu-Terai Expressway, Outer Ring Road and Matatirtha-Bhaktapur 132 KV transmission line. But locals have been protesting against the encroachment on the cultural city in the name of development.


His movement has been supported by various organizations including the Newa: Cultural Renaissance Campaign. Ganapati Lal Shrestha, a campaigner for the protection of heritage and culture, says that they have to agitate against the government's policy of grabbing the land of farmers by demolishing a town with historical, cultural and archeological significance like Khokna.



He said that the farmers and residents of Khokna have been treated unfairly and that they will continue to oppose the ongoing work in the name of development. "We will fight to the last to save Khokana. A government that cannot protect the border cannot plunder the land of the country's poor," says Shrestha.