June 2: The government has issued the land-use regulation that has a provision of slapping individuals with a fine of up to Rs 100,000 for keeping arable land fallow for three consecutive years.

The regulations approved after two years of debate will be published in the Nepal Gazette in one or two days. Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation Shashi Shrestha said that the land use regulations have been approved by dividing the total area of ​​Nepal into 10 categories.

The new regulations are against plotting of land after it was found that the land dealers were involved in acquiring agricultural land in throw-away prices and selling them at high price after plotting the land.

Now, the government had decided to fine the land plotter Rs 100,000 if they are found involved in such act.

Secretary at the Ministry, Ram Prasad Thapaliya, said that this decision of the government would further reduce the real estate business and reduce the price of land other than the residential areas. Aftter the land use regulations will be implemented from the day it is published in the Nepal Gazette, it will not be possible to build a house on the land purchased on agricultural land.

However, the government will not demolish the houses already built, said Janak Raj Joshi, joint secretary and spokesperson of the ministry.

He said that since the Land Use Act was enacted two years ago, it has not been possible to build houses on agricultural land. Now no one get away with the excuse that they didn’t know that land plot was for agricultural purpose.

 The government has a policy of connecting the agricultural sector with the road network and encouraging farming by circling the fields. Spokesperson Joshi said that the ministry will closely monitor the implementation of the regulations at the local level. The ministry is now preparing to set up a separate mechanism to be monitored by the land management department and the ministry.

It took almost three years to issue the regulations of the Land Use Act, which was issued by the parliament in August 2018. The purpose of the regulations is to classify the entire land of the country into different land-use areas, to formulate land use plans at the federal, state and local levels, to use land according to land use classification and plan, and to determine the land tax based on the use.