BAJURA, August 5

Bajura, one of the most remote districts in the country, is known for hinterlands that are virtually inaccessible.

Take for example, Bicchyan. The village is about a week’s trek from Kolti and 10 days’ walk from the district headquarters and people here are poverty-stricken.

But now the government is all set to launch a plan here to facilitate the life of district folks and pull them out of the poverty cycle. According to government sources, an integrated settlement development plan is in the offing.

“As the people in remote villages of Rugin, Gotri, Sappata and Dahakot are faring very badly, the plan could be a right approach to deal with the situation and develop infrastructure and improve service delivery here,” said Constituent Assembly member and CPN-UML central member Karna Bahadur Thapa.

Around two months ago, a team of experts from the National Planning Commission had reached the district headquarters and held intensive interactions on the need to uplift the people and improve the lifestyle here.

The government has already allocated budget to fund the programme in the district in the present fiscal.

“As the district ranks lowest in the poverty index, it has been our choice to launch the programme, which will start from this fiscal itself,” said NPC member Prem Dangal. As per the programme, villages that are at risk of natural disasters will be shifted.

To cite the data of a survey, only 191 square km area in the district is safe. The district now has a total of 24,888 houses, but among them only 5,029 houses are deemed to be in safe locations. Around 64 per cent of the people here live below the poverty line.