DHANGADI, JULY 17

Two decades after they were declared liberated, rehabilitation of all freed kamaiyas (bonded labourers) still remains a far cry.

Bonded labourers were declared freed by the government 20 years ago.

But due to the apathy of the government, their rehabilitation remains incomplete to date.

Recently, confusion surrounding this has emerged after local levels have been entrusted with the rehabilitation task.

As per data, there are some 8,910 freed kamaiya families with identity cards in Kailali. Of them, 8,546 families have been rehabilitated so far. Three hundred sixty four families are yet to be rehabilitated.

Non-government organisations, however, have put the number of yet to be rehabilitated freed kamaiya families at 380.

“A total of 380 families including 187 families with ID cards and other 193 families, who have land ownership certificates but no land are yet to be rehabilitated,” said Freed Kamaiya Society Chairperson Pashupati Chaudhary, adding that almost nothing has happened after the responsibility of rehabilitation was delegated to local levels.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on July 18, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.