Gadhawa Rural Municipality | 28 September 2026

Since 1976, landless Dalits, landless Sukumbasi, and informal settler families have lived on unregistered public land in Danda Tole, Ward No. 2 of Gadhawa Rural Municipality. On approximately 11.18 hectares of dry, upland terrain, these families established homes and cultivated land despite the absence of irrigation facilities. The settlement included seven landless Dalit families, ten landless Sukumbasi families and 275 informal settler families, occupying plots ranging from 170 to 4060 square meters. Two of the Sukumbasi families, who occupied larger plots, were subsequently registered as informal settlers.

For decades, these families pursued landownership certificates through repeated applications to successive government land commissions, enduring changing administrations and unfulfilled hopes. Their perseverance finally bore fruit with sustained technical support from the L4ACT project. Following extensive surveying, mapping, and completion of the required administrative processes, nine families, including three landless Dalit families and six landless Sukumbasi families, received land ownership certificates on 7 August 2025. For these families, it was the first time in their lives they held legal title to land, making historic milestone in their journey towards security, dignity and recognistion.