KATHMANDU, May 23 -- A Panchayat-era minister has said that the government had paid compensation to the owners of the Lalita Niwas land 49 years ago. land

Nawaraj Subedi, who was a minister of the cabinet led by the then Acting Prime Minister Gehendra Bahadur Rajbhandari that remained in office from 1970 to 1972, claimed that the government acquired the land and paid compensations higher than the going rate.

He claimed that six Rana-era palaces were acquired by the government for the purpose of building public infrasatructure. "The government paid good amount of money in compensation to the owners after acquiring six palaces including Laxmi Niwas, Lalita Niwas, Sita Niwas, Mahavir Bhawan, Babarmahal and Harihar Bhawan," Subedi told Repu...