Rautahat, January 13

Family of Sarita Rai, who sustained critical injuries in a bomb explosion in Chandrapur Municipality of Rautahat on November 18, is in deep financial crisis.

As many as 12 persons including Sarita and her son Jaibik were seriously injured in the explosion some two months ago.

Other injured returned home after treatment while Sarita, a daily wage labourer of Chidiyadaha of Chandrapur, has been facing a hard time at Chitwan Medical College, Bharatpur, Chitwan. While Sarita’s left leg has been amputated, Jaibik has lost his left hand and he has deep wounds in legs.

Sarita’s husband Krishna Bahadur Rai can’t walk on his own as he has been suffering from asthma for a long time. The five-member family is reeling under financial crisis facing after the bread winner of the family Sarita got injured badly in the blast.

More than 600,000 rupees has already been spent for medicines alone so far, according to Sarita. “We had to take loan to arrange the amount. We have not paid hospital charges yet. And, on top of it I am worried thinking about how to earn money after being discharged from the hospital,” said Sarita. She said she had heard that the government would help the victims but had no idea about the process seek help.

“As the bomb explosion, senior leaders of different forces including CPN-Maoist Centre Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal, CPN-UML Chair KP Sharma Oli and Madhav Kumar Nepal, among other leaders reached the health facility to console us but these days nobody seems bothered about us, let alone financial and moral support,” regretted Sarita.

District Administration Office, Rautahat, recommended the Ministry of Home Affairs to provide Rs one million as compensation to Sarita’s family but the family is yet to get compensation.

“We have not received even a single penny yet. But I have heard that few victims’ families close to political leaders have received the compensation,” said Sarita.

“Neither the government is concerned about the family nor are the local political leaders,” said Bharat Acharya, a Chandrapur local.

It has already been more than two months since the incident. However, the victim family has not got any financial aid from the government which has added to their plight.