Rolpa, January 2:

The Maoist PLA fighters are forced to live in a miserable condition of woes and suffering in the fifth division cantonment due to the lack of basic facilities despite the Maoist-led government in the country.

There are seven cantonments of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in different parts of the country, waiting for integration with the national Nepal Army and rehabilitation of disqualified combatants into other sectors. But the government is yet to materialise the commitments of their basic facilities.

The patience of combatants, who fought for ten years against the ‘feudalism’, is running out as they were deprived of salaries and other facilities for last two years. The fifth PLA Division in Dahawan, Rolpa, where the temperature falls below zero degree Celcius, is one of cantonments in the remote areas . Out of 19,602 PLA verified by United Nations Mission in Nepal throughout the country, there are 2,440 PLAs in the fifth division.

They are not provided with enough rooms. Some of them are living in small houses outside the cantonment while others are compelled to stay in tents even in shivering cold.

Suka Bahadur Roka ‘Sarad’, commander of the fifth PLA Division, said, “The government built only 135 huts for PLA but not enough for us. We made some huts ourselves.” “The government has failed to manage the cantonment properly,” Sarad said, adding, “They are treated as refugees.”

According to Sarad, the government had agreed to provide monthly Rs 3,000 to each of PLAs under the qualified category but their salaries were not given for 12 months till last October. It was another problem for them when they were given bank cheques that could not be exchanged in remote areas such as Dahawan due to the unavailability of banks, he noted.

The story of disqualified group is more pathetic. They are deprived of monthly salaries as well as everyday ration and sharing ration and salary with the qualified groups. “Neither we are refugees nor detainees. The consequences will be dire and unexpected if the government does not deal with NA and PLA equally,” he said.

Division vice-commander Nek Bahadur Kunwar ‘Bibek’ said, “We are facing problems such as cold weather, lack of health facilities and more. We cannot tolerate such injustice anymore.”