KATHMANDU: The government has distributed identity cards to 7,372 freed Haliya so far.

The government had collected a total of 19,059 names of freed Haliya while 16,953 were verified.

The government has distributed identity cards to 7,372 Haliya till now after completing the verification process of the Haliya, a form of bonded labour practised in the mid and far-west districts.

According to a report shared by the National Freed Haliya Society Federation on Sunday, a total of 993 Haliya were categorised under 'A' class while 2,297 in 'B' and 262 in 'C' class. Likewise, 3,818 others were categorised in category 'D'.

The freed Haliya rights activists have urged the government for collecting more names citing that large numbers of freed Haliya were still not documented.