Bhadrapur, May 6: A five-member committee has been constituted under the chairmanship of assistant CDO of Jhapa Beni Madhav Gyawali to settle a dispute over land used by Kisandehi maternity home. The land has been handed over to Mechi Zonal Hospital.

A meeting of social workers, industrialists and representatives from the Hospital Development Committee held here under the chairmanship of CDO Dilli Raj Joshi assigned the committee the task of coming up with a permanent solution to the dispute within a period of seven days. The dispute centers around the cost of the land involved and substitute land. The staff of the hospital are using the maternity home as living quarters along with a two-storey nurses’ quarters constructed on land occupied by the maternity home. Her Majesty Queen Mother Ratna Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah had inaugurated the maternity home constructed by the late Satya Narayan Agrawal, father of Mechi Hospital Development Committee chairman Mohan Lal Agrawal. For the purpose land near the hospital was purchased in 2019 BS at the rate of 1,000 per kaththa from the late Kanhaiya Lal Agrawal.

The heirs of Kanhaiya Lal are seeking payment of the current market price for the land or allocation of substitute land as payment as per the previous price has not yet been made.

The dispute arose after they sold part of the land still under their ownership and construct work started on a building on it.

The parties differ over the cost of the land. Mohan Lal Agrawal has offered Rs. 200,000, but the heirs of Kanhaiya Lal are not ready to accept a price below Rs. 500,000. Ownership of the land has not yet been transferred to Mechi Zonal Hospital.

Buildings erected on the land for the maternity home and the staff quarters are in ruin as construction work initiated by the hospital development committee and HMG could not be completed on time.

In Bhaktapur, the over nine months old dispute between the Nagarkot Transportation Management Committee and the Bhaktapur minibus services committee over operating buses on the Kathmandu-Nagarkot route ended friday after a truce between the disputing parties.

The dispute was finally settled at a meeting of transport entrepreneurs from both the committees, representatives of various political parties and the representatives of the federation of transport entrepreneurs. The meeting was chaired by chief district officer Dhurba Raj Wagle. The meeting also constituted a district transport management committee with the representation from the district administration, police and the registered public transport operators in the district. Any buses operating the route are issued the route permit only at the recommendation of the district transport management committee.

Similarly, the meeting decided to run six buses of the Nagarkot Transportation Committee and 18 buses of the bBhaktapur minibus service committee on the route in a day.

Likewise, the two old buses of the Nagarkot transportation committee have been permitted to operate on the local Biruwa-old bus park route.

He dispute over the bus route surfaced some nine months ago after Bhaktapur minibus service committee did not allow the eight buses of the Nagarkot Transport Committee to ply the Nagarkot-Kathmandu route.

It is learnt that while Bhaktapur Minibus Services Committee charges Rs 18 as transportation fare per person on the Nagarkot-Kathmandu route, the Nagarkot Transport Committee has been charging Rs 16 per person for the same distance for the convenience of the passengers.