Rajbiraj, May 24 -- What began as a routine public land clearance drive in ward 3 of Tilathi Koiladi Rural Municipality in Saptari has left a family homeless and ended in the death of a 75-year-old woman, who relatives say was overwhelmed by the aftermath.

The ward office had issued a seven-day notice on May 4 to remove houses and sheds built on public land in the Sakarpura settlement. Acting on the notice, local authorities arrived with a bulldozer on Monday and demolished structures belonging to the family of Ratni Devi Malahani.

Her children- Parameshwar, Bindeshwar and Laxmi Mukhiya - along with their families, were left without shelter and have since been living under tarpaulins set up over debris and along a roadside.

Family memb...