Eight years on, ex-Kamaiyas still awaiting resettlement

Tikapur, July 10:

Eight years have already passed since the government declared Kamaiyas (bonded labourers) free, but it is yet to resettle some 3,500 of them in Kailali district alone.

The former bonded labourers are facing multitude of problems but are still hopeful that

the government would resettle them.

“Several freed Kamaiyas had contributed to the Jana Andolan II. Hopefully, the government would recognise their contribution to the country’s political movement and expedite the process to resettle them,” said chairman of Kailali chapter of the Freed Kamaiya

Society Jit Bahadur Chaudhari. He hoped the ex-Kamaiyas would be rehabilitated after the new government is formed.

The Freed Kamaiya Resettlement Committee formed by the government to resettle the former bonded labourers of Kailali, Kanchanpur, Banke, Baridiya and Dang districts could not function as desired, he said.

There are some 12,000 ex-Kamaiyas in five districts waiting for rehabilitation, he said.

“The Maoists have assured us of providing land and we are waiting and watching what they will do,” said Baburam Chaudahri, a freed Kamaiya living in Shivnagar camp.