Dhangadi, August 2

Budget allotted for the rehabilitation of more than 700 freed kamaiya families of Kailali district went unused in the last fiscal.

According to District Land Reform Office, Kailali, out of 370 million rupees allotted for the rehabilitation of kamaiyas, 120 million rupees was not utilised. “A huge budget froze as the freed kamaiyas demanded rehabilitation at the places where they had been staying and also due to lack of appropriate land in the district,” said Land Reform Officer Laxman Bahadur Kathayat.

He further said rehabilitation of freed kamaiyas became a challenging job because they demanded rehabilitation in the land near river banks, forest and other controversial areas. “However, the key reason for failure to spend the entire budget was lack of land,” he said.

As per data available at the Land Reform Office, there are 8,910 households of freed kamaiyas in the

district.

Of them, a total of 8,203 households were rehabilitated before the last fiscal. The government offers grants to purchase land, timber, construct house and for repairs.

Meanwhile, Dhangadi Sub-metropolitan City Mayor Nrip Odd said they were launching special programmes to settle the freed kamaiyas.

“The process of handing over land near the old airport is under way,” said Odd. The government had freed the kamaiyas in 2001.