GOVT. ILLEGALLY NATIONALIZES PROPERTY OF FORMER KING, URENDRA, QUEEN AISHWARYA Kathmandu, 15 Sept.: The government has decided to transfer ownership of land belonging to former royals to tenants who have been tilling the plots for years, The Kathmandu Post reports. Around 250-300 households in Satungal, Matatirtha and Thankot VDCs in Kathmandu have been farming in these plots of land. The Office of Nepal Trust (ONT), a government entity formed shortly after Nepal became a republic, has been handling plots of land associated with the formal royal families. According to the ONT, 102 ropanis of land in Thankot, 59 ropanis in Matatirtha and 1.6 ropanis in Satungal will be distributed to the tillers as per a recent decision of the Cabinet. The name transfers will happen once a panel formed under the Cabinet will take a final call on this, sources said. According to the ONT, these plots of land called birta were owned by the former royals since long, but farmers have been tilling them for decades. These plots were transferred in the name of the palace in 1990. “After the ONT was set up, we started investigating the royals’ land. We have now decided to transfer the ownership of these plots to those who have been cultivating them since long,” said ONT secretary Sridhar Gautam. Since the office was established in 2007 to find out the exact moveable and immovable property of former King Birendra and his associates, the ONT has located 6,244 ropanis of royal land across the country. It found an additional 1,179 ropanis this year alone at Gokarna in Kathmandu. The ONT also transferred in its name 142,503 units of shares and bonuses of former royals invested in Nabil bank, Hotel Annapurna and the Industrial Development Corporation. The office also took possession of Rs 1,401 million and 44,015 sterling pounds of the former royals. Cabinet says VIPs must now travel cattle class The Cabinet has instructed government officials to prepare guidelines on foreign junkets for Prime Ministers and ministers. A recent meeting of the Cabinet further made it mandatory for all government officials, including the PM and ministers, to travel economy class during their trips abroad. “The meeting instructed officials to prepare a report on how much money should be released as contingent expenses, for souvenirs and as tips during foreign visits of PMs and ministers,” the Cabinet decision says. As of now, PMs and ministers are given US$ 500 a day in tips during their travel abroad. The Cabinet has formed a panel led by Finance Secretary Krishna Hari Baskota to look into the matter. The panel will look into whether the current allowances given to VIPs during their foreign junkets should continue or be revised. (Note: Government, though Nepal Trust, has illegally nationalized personal property of King Birendra and Queen even though they have grandchildren born from their daughter Princess Shruti. In prevailing law of ‘aputali’, property of parents goes to a daughter or her heirs if there’s no male heir. When Crown Prince Dipendra and Prince Nirajan were killed along with their parents, all the king’s and queen’s relatives weren’t killed. The grandchildren of Birendra and Aishwarya survived and they’re the rightful heirs of the personal property of the then king and queen. Dipendra and Nirajan weren’t married. The government act to nationalize the personal property of the then king an queen exposes the government’s discriminatory attitude against women on issues of property and inheritance,) nnnn