Pakharu Bahadur Sudi’s, (name changed) and the other four Dalit families lived in Sijuwa-1, Morang. Altogther the five families had 1bigha, 5 kattha land and they had been living there for quite many years. Besides the land, they had nothing for sustaining their lives. Then in 2038 BS, a primary school was opened within the premise and therefore, the-then chairperson of the VDC had registered the land in the name of school keeping in view of its extension. This school is now a lower secondary school. In 2042 BS, with the help of police, the land was evacuated, thereby destroying the shelters of five families, but after the revolt of few marginalized groups like Bahardar, Rajbanshi, Tajpuriya and Santhal, they were reinstated. But then the relation between the families and the school management committee (SMC) ruined so much so that it became a significant political issue. Many a times, the school was vandalized. District administration, police and local stakeholders put their effort but to no avail.
Then upon hearing about the mediation center in the neighborhood, the president of the SMC filed an application there. The mediation day was fixed and as the session started, both the parties put forward their views: the SMC said that the land occupied by the five families was in fact the school property, and so they should leave and again should also give the school a compensatory amount of 1 lakh 50 thousand. The other side’s story was that the school had unethically robbed them of the land where they had been living since their forefathers’ time, and as they had not participated in the vandalism, they were not liable to pay the compensation.
After 7 hours discussion, they reached to an agreement. From the land, the school was ready to allocate 10 dhurs land to each household and they will leave the remaining land, and the school will also provide land for a 10 feet road to their habitation. The VDC will take responsibility of repairing the school building. They also agreed to restore their relationship. Thus, this dispute which was initially looked into by a number of government agencies including police, administration and many local political units for a period of 26 years, was eventually solved by mediation. Nowadays, there is a popular understanding that mediation is able to solve even long standing conflicts.
