Himalayan News Service

Dipayal, May 22:

Children in the conflict-hit far western hilly district are increasingly migrating to India. According to a recent survey conducted by Save the Children Norway, 481 children in Doti district alone have been displaced in the last four months. They used the Gaurifanta check point, Mahendranagar, Jogbani and Nepalgunj to enter India. The INGO’s project manager, Rajendra Tuladhar, said: “Among those children, 107 are in Orissa, 108 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, 83 in Punjab and the remaining 183 are employed in risky jobs at various Indian cities. Five hundred children leave their studies and migrate to India daily, Tuladhar said. Those with resources are sending their wards to the district headquarters whereas the impoverished ones are compelled to send their children to India.

Internally displaced children can been seen working in hotels, lodges and restaurants in Dhangadhi, Attariya, Mahendranagar and Dipayal. These children are mostly from Kalikot, Mugu and Humla, sources said. Bir Bahadur Bogati of Bajura Pandusain, who works at a hotel in Dipayal, said: “I had to run away from school despite my desire to continue studies.”

Meanwhile, a report from Nepalgunj said 165 children of the Camp for the Displaced at Rajhena, Banke, have started going to school from today. The children were able to go to school after a local NGO, supported by a Swiss NGO Terres Des Homme Nepal, started enrolling them at the Sagarmatha Primary School and Gyanpunja Secondary School of Rajhena.