Biratnagar: Nearly fifteen years ago, the Ganesh Agrawal and Dhanawat Group launched ‘Eastern City’ in the industrial hub of Biratnagar, marking the city’s first foray into commercial apartment living.
Today, approximately 30 families reside in the complex, having paid between Rs 5 to 6 million for their units. However, these residents face a harrowing reality: despite their significant investments, they do not legally own their homes. The developers have failed to transfer the titles, leaving the buyers in a state of permanent uncertainty without any official documentation of their property rights.
The root of this crisis lies in the fact that the entire development is considered an illegal structure by the Biratnagar Metropolitan City. The project never received a final approved building plan, nor has it ever contributed a single rupee in property taxes to the local government.
Because the complex lacks legal standing, the apartments are essentially “ghost properties” that are bought and sold solely through verbal handshakes rather than legal deeds. This lack of formal registration has created a volatile secondary market where individuals sell their units to unsuspecting third parties just to escape the legal entanglement.
The scale of the regulatory violation is staggering. While the developers initially applied for permission to build a two-and-a-half-story structure, they bypassed all building codes to erect a seven-story high-rise. Local revenue officials estimate that the project owes upwards of Rs 10 million in unpaid taxes and penalties.
Rather than settling these debts, the developers have spent years evading the authorities. Even after a High Court ruling upheld the city’s right to collect these taxes, the developers have refused to comply or regularize their construction permits.
The city administration finds itself in a difficult position, as the presence of dozens of families in the building makes demolition or forced eviction a sensitive humanitarian issue. Taking advantage of this dilemma and leveraging their social influence, the developers continue to ignore repeated government notices.
Meanwhile, residents report that life inside the complex is deteriorating; they are charged inflated rates for electricity and maintenance fees, yet the building suffers from cracked walls, leaking roofs, and a total lack of upkeep. Some units were even used as barter to settle debts with construction suppliers, such as Maruti Cement and the Murarka Group, further complicating the legal mess.
This culture of impunity extends to other projects in the city as well. In a separate development in Biratnagar-7, Shree Construction and developer Suresh Rathi abandoned a planned 27-unit residential project after collecting millions in deposits.
Families who paid upwards of Rs 6 million to book their future homes have been left stranded after the developers vanished, claiming the project “failed.”
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