Since it had rained heavily the night before, the family of Lal Bahadur Praja Chepang of Lothar Baswang, a hilly village in northern Chitwan, was busy preparing to sow maize on Saturday. The work of carrying manure and ploughing was going on in full swing. Lal Bahadur is not sure how much land he has. He says it is 10 acres. ‘It is a patch of land. It has not been measured. Is it one bigha?’ Lal Bahadur said.

Lal Bahadur does not have the title deed of the land he has been earning. Since there is no measurement, he is not sure how much the farmland is. ‘I was born in 2044 BS. My children were also born and raised here and only then did my son get married. Our grandfathers, great-grandfathers, and great-grandfathers have been living here for many generations. But we don't have the land title deed for the land we live and farm,' said Lal Bahadur. This village in Rapti Municipality-13 is mostly inhabited by the marginalized Chepang community. Not only Lal Bahadur, but no one in Basbang has a land title deed. 'What kind of land title deed is it? We have seen it from others, not in our own name,' says local Sher Bahadur Praja Chepang. Sher Bahadur is 77 years old. He said that he is worried about the day the government will wake up because he does not have the land title deed for the place where he has been living since his ancestors. 'Our ancestors were born and raised here. But we do not have the land title deed yet. We have not been able to go anywhere else from here. There is no income, the only way to go is by selling. There is no land title deed to sell here, without a title deed it would be very difficult,' he said.

The reason why no one in Baswang has a land title deed is that this place was left out of the survey. Baswang was previously part of the then Talti village panchayat of Dhading. According to local Diplal Chepang, who was once very active in getting Baswang's land registered, when the land was being surveyed in Chitwan, Baswang was in Dhading district, so it was not surveyed.

In 2034 BS, this place came under Chitwan district. 'After that, the survey came from Dhading, but the Dhading team did not survey the place in Chitwan. Thus, when the Chitwan survey team came, Dhading was included in Chitwan, and when the Dhading team came, it was included in Chitwan, so our ancestral place could not be surveyed. "We are still without land titles due to lack of surveyors," said Diplal. Diplal, who is 56 years old, has been going back and forth not only to Bharatpur but also to Kathmandu, demanding a survey team.

He said that many of his shoes and sandals were torn when he reached the local leaders, the district land revenue office, and the Kathmandu land revenue department. But Diplal now seems disappointed as the work is not completed. "UML leader Dawa Dorje Lama is my close brother. He won the provincial assembly in 2074 BS and became a minister. I had helped him a lot when he was in the landless squatters' commission in 2063 BS," he said.

Nepal Chepang Sangh, an ethnic organization of the Chepang community, had also raised this issue in the past. After many people started taking interest, the Chitwan Land Revenue Office also became more active. ‘If it was a newly cleared area, they would have been reluctant . This is a place where our ancestors have been earning since long . There is no reason not to give the land certificate here . But they don’t give it,’ he said .

The Land Revenue Office, Chitwan, had written a letter to the Land Reforms and Management Department on Kartik 24, 2065, suggesting that it would be reasonable to measure the land and request it to be measured . Diplal had registered the letter with the department on Mangsir 25 of the same year . 

Even after 17 years, Diplal’s campaign has not been able to achieve any significance . Diplal says that this work was stalled because he could not raise 10,000 rupees at that time . ‘When I reached the department in Babarmahal with the letter from the District Land Revenue, you said that your work would be done . He said that the matter of measuring and measuring had been resolved . When I found out where its base was, it was in Dhading, and I was told to move it to Chitwan,' he said. He was told that when moving the base in Dhading, a deposit of 10,000 rupees would have to be deposited and that the survey would begin as soon as the deposit was deposited. 'At that time, I didn't even have five rupees in my pocket to withdraw. I had to tell everyone in the village. When I asked and understood, the villagers started saying that they didn't have the money to make salt oil, so where would I get 10,000? It wasn't just me, the people couldn't afford it, so the matter was lost,' said Diplal.

In 2065 BS, there were 92 houses in Baswang. At that time, this village was in Ward 6 of Lothar Village Development Committee. No one in the entire ward had a Lalpur. According to Diplal, all the residents are from the Chepang community. Even though the road to the village has reached Janten, there is still no electricity. Despite the lack of good infrastructure, this place later came under Rapti Municipality-13.

Sometimes it falls under Dhading, sometimes Chitwan, sometimes a village, sometimes a municipality, but the people of Basbang are still waiting for the Lalpurja. ‘This place does not grow well. In addition to maize, millet, beans, and meat grow well. It is difficult to make a living,’ says Lal Bahadur, ‘Where will we go after leaving the place we have been living in? We are living on our ancestral land. We had to give the Lalpurja.’

Dipalal says that Basbang, which already had 92 households, has now doubled its family size. Even though there is not as much enthusiasm as before, he has not given up hope of getting the Lalpurja. ‘People have been taken to different places, but nothing has been done. Now, no one raises this issue like before. "Leaders don't talk about it that much. But if the government does this, it will be good for the government and even better for us," said Dipalal.