Encroachment Overview
High-level statistics and aggregations of land grabbing in Kathmandu.
Encroached Area
1,272.29 Ropani
6,967,314 Sq. Ft. / 159.9 HectaresTotal Land Scope
5,395.96 Ropani
29,548,282 Sq. Ft.Encroachment Cases
5,013
Individual & Institutional actsMax Single Grab
74.50 Ropani
Koteshwor (Manahara Riverbed)Encroachment by Ward (Top 10)
Total area encroached in Ropanis per ward
Original Land Purpose (Source)
Type of public land targeted for encroachment
Current Occupied Use
What the encroached land is being used for today
Land Registry Status
Collusion indicator: has the public land been registered?
Wards & Riverbed Encroachment Explorer
Kathmandu's rivers are the primary victims of land mafias. Use this portal to inspect encroachment ward-by-ward and across critical river systems.
Kathmandu Ward Grid (Interactive)
Click a ward block to inspect its specific encroachment profile and filter dashboard data.
Ward No. 7 Analysis
1,076 cases recorded
Top Encroached Toles (Neighborhoods)
Top Land Grabbers in Ward
Kathmandu River Systems Hijack
A significant portion of Kathmandu's riverbeds and banks (Bagmati, Bishnumati, Dhobikhola, Manahara) have been illegally claimed and built upon.
| Ward | Tole | Kitta | Original Land Type | Current Usage | Encroached Area | Occupant (Individual / Org) | Registry | Action |
|---|
Corruption Spotlights & Key System Insights
Analyzing major anomalies, key corporate/individual beneficiaries, and structural land administration fraud.
Institutional & Guthi Encroachments
Public lands claimed by schools, temples, companies, and trusts (Guthis).
Institutional encroachment represents some of the largest land grabs. A significant portion of this involves historical trusts like the Pashupatinath Bhandar Tahawil and other Guthi systems, where public lands were leased or occupied without proper authority.
Top Individual Land Grabbers
Private citizens occupying the largest cumulative public acreage.
While 80% of individual files are categorized as small residential extensions, the top 1% of land grabbers account for nearly 20% of the total encroached individual area, indicating commercial real estate exploitation.
The Collusion Mechanism: Unlawful Registration
How public assets were converted into private properties via land revenue registries (Malpot).
1,529 Cases are "Registered" Private Land
Our analysis reveals that 1,529 cases (representing 30.5% of all files) are classified as officially "Registered" land in the registry databases, despite their original status as public rivers, roads, or canals.
This indicates institutional corruption where land revenue officers (Malpot) and surveyors colluded with grabbers to issue official ownership titles (Lalpurja) for riverbeds and road right-of-ways.
Riverbed Registration Anomaly
These are cases where rivers (Bagmati, Bishnumati, Dhobikhola) have been officially registered to private entities:
The Mechanics of Land Grabbing (Corruption Handbook)
Understanding how public property gets absorbed into private hands in Kathmandu.
What is "Ailaani" (ऐलानी) Public Land?
Ailaani land refers to public land that has no registered owner in the historical land archives, but is officially owned by the government. Because it lacks active private files, land grabbers build fences or temporary structures on it, eventually claiming long-term residency (often disguised as squatter settlements/Sukumbasi) to demand commercial compensation or legal titling.
How are Riverbeds Grabbed and Redrawn?
During the dry season, developers dump construction debris or soil along riverbanks (Bagmati, Bishnumati, Dhobikhola) to narrow the natural flow. They then build retaining walls to lock in the "reclaimed" land. Over a few years, this illegal extension is paved, fenced, and building structures are erected, pushing the river into a narrow canal and causing severe monsoon flooding.
What is the "Malpot & Napi" Collusion?
To legalize grabbed lands, perpetrators collude with surveyors from the Land Mapping Office (Napi) and registrars from the Land Revenue Office (Malpot). Officers manipulate mapping boundaries to merge river banks into private kitas, or create new kitta numbers under fake names. Once a private Lalpurja (ownership certificate) is generated, the public asset is officially stolen.