To resolve the long-standing dispute over the road right of way (road boundary) in the main market area of Dadeldhura, the district’s elected representatives, political parties, local governments, and stakeholders have decided to appeal to the central government.

A multi-party meeting held on Friday decided to request the Government of Nepal, through the Department of Roads, to set the right of way at only 15 meters to the left and right from the centerline of the road in the main market area.

This decision was made the day after a multi-party meeting held at the District Administration Office in the presence of Member of Parliament Dr. Tara Prasad Joshi ended without a conclusion. In Thursday’s meeting, local business owners and landowners protested, arguing that if the current 32-meter road boundary on each side were enforced, the entire main market area would be at risk, private land and structures would be lost, and the local economy would be severely affected. They also complained that since 2019, when Amargadhi Municipality stopped approving building blueprints, banking transactions, mortgaging property, and buying and selling land had all been affected. The meeting became heated after allegations that blueprints for some individuals had been approved.

After no agreement was reached on Thursday, another all-party and multi-stakeholder meeting was held on Friday under the chairmanship of Chief District Officer Amar Bahadur Wali. The meeting was attended by Members of Parliament Dr. Tara Prasad Joshi and Harina Devi Kami, Amargadhi Municipality Mayor Dilliram Joshi, Chief Administrative Officer Laxmi Prasad Upadhyaya, District Coordination Committee Chief Gagan Singh Bhandari, representatives of political parties, industrialists, business owners, and other stakeholders.

In this meeting as well, there was a heated exchange between business owners, landowners, and municipal representatives over the issues of the road right of way and building blueprint approvals. Business owners and landowners stated that if the 32-meter boundary on each side were enforced, the market area and private property would be at risk, and that locals had suffered for years due to the halt in blueprint approvals. The municipality maintained that it could not make a decision due to legal complexities.

The meeting concluded that, in the Syaule–Anarkholi road section, land acquisition and compensation had already been completed by setting the boundary at 15 meters to the left and right from the centerline, and that houses and other structures in the market area had been built on that basis.

Since enforcing the 32-meter boundary now could displace the entire main market, the meeting decided to request the Department of Roads and the Government of Nepal, through the Road Division Office, to maintain the previous 15-meter boundary on each side. The meeting also decided that Amargadhi Municipality would coordinate this process. Furthermore, the meeting decided that, once the confusion regarding the road boundary is resolved, building blueprints for existing and future houses constructed beyond the 15-meter boundary from the centerline would be approved immediately, following the necessary legal procedures.