Note: This news has been updated after talking to Home Minister Sudhan Gurung.

It has been found that Home Minister Sudhan Gurung has taken 10 ropanis of land in Fewa Lake on lease from locals for 15 years for the purpose of running adventure tourism activities in Pokhara. It has been revealed that Gurung took the land while the Metropolitan City was removing illegal structures around Fewa Lake and has not paid the rent for 7 years. Sudhan had taken the land in Lamdanda, Shimle, across Fewa Lake, in 2074 BS for an annual rent of Rs 200,000, but the landowner has said that he has only paid the rent for one year.

This land was being used by the 3 sons of local Resham Lal Gurung, 4 sons of Mekh Bahadur Gurung and Birkha Bahadur Gurung. According to Om Bahadur Gurung, Mekh Bahadur's younger son, 6 ropanis of the leased land were owned by Lalpurjawala, while the rest was being used by dividing it into shares.

After Pokhara Metropolitan City Mayor Dhanraj Acharya told reporters that ‘the Home Minister’s land is also within Fewa Lake and he has instructed to demolish the structures there,’ Kantipur learned that Home Minister Sudhan had not purchased the land but rented it. In a conversation with Kantipur, landowner Om Bahadur said that he had told him to ‘contact the Home Minister and pay the rent.’ Home Minister Gurung, on the other hand, claimed that he had been tricked into making the agreement. ‘I found out later that now I have become the Home Minister, I will seek legal redress,’ he said.

The rented land is currently located directly across from the paragliding landing site in Pokhara Metropolitan City-22. Sudhan had started constructing buildings and other structures the same year he rented the land. According to landowner Om Bahadur, Sudhan had planned to run a game where people are pulled into the water like a slingshot and thrown into the water, and to build structures including a swimming pool. Om Bahadur estimates that he spent one to one and a half crore rupees on the tin-roofed building, swimming pool materials, and interior decoration at that time.

The land was connected to the Fewa Lake when the Harpan River flooded and the water-logged area turned into farmland. Sudhan and Sandhiyar had a fight when they were unable to build the structure as planned. ‘At first, we got along very well, but later what happened, the fight even reached the police,’ said Om Bahadur. ‘Later, when the Metropolitan Municipality came and said not to build anything here, it was abandoned.’

Home Minister Sudhan had paid one year’s rent at the time of signing the agreement. ‘There was an agreement to increase the rent every 5 years.’ We paid a year's rent, and it just went downhill from there,' said Om Bahadur, 'We didn't raise the investment either, we couldn't do any farming either.' He informed that both parties have the rental agreement documents. According to him, Sudhan has not returned after leaving the land. 'He is not in touch. There is no phone number,' he said, 'If he doesn't work, the agreement should be terminated. It feels like we are also in jail. We haven't even received the rent.'

Om Bahadur has urged Home Minister Sudhan to get in touch. 'You have become the Home Minister, get in touch. Let's sit down and discuss,' is his message to the Home Minister, 'If you want to run it, run it, if you don't want to run it, you have to pay the rent so far. The agreement documents had to be torn up after consultation.'

Home Minister Gurung said that three friends rented the land with the idea of ​​doing business. ‘The plan was to conduct adventure tourism activities. As soon as we took the lease, we built roads and structures. We invested Rs 1.5 to 2 crore, and also paid rent for a few years,’ he told Kantipur. ‘When we went to the metropolitan city and tried to get the map approved, they said it was within 65 meters. We felt like we had fallen off a cliff. After that, we stopped investing. The landowner had lied to me that it was not within 65 meters. Now I will seek legal redress.’

‘Will you seek legal redress?’ When asked, Sudhan said, ‘I will do whatever the law says for cheating me at that time. I did not know what the law says at that time. Now that I have become the Home Minister, I have an idea. I will seek legal redress by filing a complaint not as a Home Minister, but as a citizen.’

Details were made public that Home Minister Gurung had land on the banks of Fewa Lake while returning the land and demolishing the structure. According to Kali Bahadur Bhujel, head of the Land Revenue Office, Kaski, there is no information about the land owned by Sudhan and his father Dil Bahadur Gurung in the district.

After the government included the conservation of Fewa Lake in the '100 Action List' of governance reforms, Prime Minister Balendra Shah called Pokhara Metropolitan City Mayor Dhanraj Acharya and demanded a progress report. Home Minister Gurung had also shown interest in this matter.

The Supreme Court had already ruled to return the encroached land of Fewa Lake. Pokhara Metropolitan City Mayor Acharya reached Kathmandu on Thursday to meet Home Minister Gurung to inform him about the status of the implementation of the decision. He then submitted the latest report prepared by the Supreme Court's Decision Implementation Facilitation Committee to the Home Minister on a 'pen drive'.

The Home Minister's eyes were drawn to the map of the demarcation of Fewa Lake prepared by the committee based on the highest point of the water. The area of ​​Fewa Lake was enclosed within a red circle all around. He pointed to a place on the map using the 'mouse cursor' and asked, 'What will happen here?' Acharya informed that according to the Supreme Court's decision, all the registrations within the red circle will be considered contaminated, the registration will be canceled and no compensation will be given. After Acharya's statement, the Home Minister's response was, 'Mine is gone too!'

Screenshot of Home Minister Sudhan Gurung's response to a post written by MP Harkaraj Rai on Facebook on Monday morning. *

Acharya understood Gurung's statement to mean that the land he owned fell within the boundaries of Fewa Lake. After this, he informed various media outlets that 'the Home Minister's land also fell within Fewa Lake and that he had instructed to demolish the structures there.' But the land owned by Home Minister Gurung was not found in Fewa Lake. According to Metropolitan Mayor Acharya, Home Minister Gurung said that 'his own land was also gone, how much land he had, when he bought it, and for how much'. ‘Now the Land Revenue and Survey Office is studying how much land is within the demarcation, how much land is within 65 meters, how much is registered as contaminated, how much land needs to be compensated,’ he said, ‘We are working hard to complete it by Chait. Then, we will know who owns how much land.’

According to the Supreme Court’s decision, the land falling within the lake (area) based on the highest water level point and the land registered after 032 BS based on the 65-meter standard outside the lake will be automatically declared as contaminated and will be invalid,’ said Metropolitan Mayor Acharya. ‘In the case of other land, you will get compensation. We will give you time to bring evidence in the case of land that has a land title but is found to be contaminated,’ he said.

Based on the report of the facilitation committee, a fort has been built around Fewa Lake since last 17 Jestha. The land where Home Minister Gurung rented a structure falls within the fort. If the Metropolitan Municipality's notice of 8 February is to be taken as a basis, Home Minister Gurung should have removed the structure and vacated the land within 15 days. If the Metropolitan Municipality has to demolish it, it has been said that the owner himself will have to pay the demolition costs. But even after the specified period, Home Minister Gurung has not vacated the land, and the Metropolitan Municipality has not used a dozer there either.