During the first emergency in 2001, the then Royal Nepal Army's 23rd Brigade encroached on some land around their cantonment in Baglung. During the royal regime they took over two-and-a-half hectares to construct a helipad for the king. "It started during the first emergency, and by now the army has taken over almost a hectare of my land. I got no compensation, and nor do I think they will return it," says Sahdev Rajbhandari, who is a central committee member of the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce. "During the royal regime we were scared to speak. But now, a year after the restoration of democracy, there still isn't anyone listening to us?" he added.

Land belonging to Baglung's former mayor Rishi Ram Sharma and deputy mayor Padma Chandra Rajbhandari has also been encroached upon and now lies inside the Nepal Army's barbed wire-protected cantonment. The land of most victims was captured in September 2005, when the king was visiting Baglung. Only a handful of them have received compensation from the district administration office, and they all say it was inadequate, given that 0.05 hectare normally go for over Rs 800,000 here.

Colonel Rabindra Shrestha of the 23rd brigade admits that land has been seized, but says in most cases the army was compelled to do so. Shrestha and Baglung CDO Krishna Prasad Lamsal say that they can only address people's grievances if the orders to do come from \'above'.

The Nepal Army has seized land in other parts of Baglung too. In Jhingate they seized another 1.25 hectares of land, and in Biyou they took 1.5 hectares. The army's spokesman says that land was seized all over Nepal and that return and compensation will be agreed upon at the local level.