Razing of riverside structures ignore due process

In democracy, the process of implementing vital decisions is as important as the decisions themselves.

The new nationwide drive to remove riverside settlements cannot be viewed solely as a law-and-order or environmental problem. In fact, at its heart, it is a humanitarian issue. Among those whose homes were razed on Saturday, fewer families than expected registered as landless. The Balendra Shah government’s assumption that most of those housed in these settlements are not homeless folks thus seems to have been vindicated. Even as the mayor of Kathmandu, it was Shah’s belief that the settlements should be removed as they are packed with political activists and fake internal refugees. The argument that such settlements are prone to seasonal flooding was also advanced. These arguments have merit. Yet what is also true is that potentially thousands of people have been rendered homeless, almost overnight, and they have nowhere else to go. The government claims to have set up alternative settlements for them. But some of those who have been relocated already complain about not having enough to eat. Also, the number of those registering for official landless status is steadily ticking up.