Shivaraj Bhatta

Dhangadhi, July 2:

Many farmers here are very happy that monsoon has begun but for freed Kamaiyas like Phool Kumari Chaudhary of Pathariya, Kailali, the rainy season is more a curse because they are worried over where to spend their days and nights. Phool Kumari said, “We do not have homes of our own and we any how managed to spend the summer but it’s already monsoon and the authorities concerned have not shown any interest in helping us.” The government provided them ‘red cards’ — the identity cards issued by the government to the freed Kamaiyas and are entitled to rehabilitation facilities — in 2057 BS but nothing has been done to provide facilities of any kind. When the downpour begins Ratrani Chaudhary is worried over how to protect her seven-month-old child from the deluge. “We are forced stay under the open sky and face the rain because we have nothing to protect us from the rain,” she said.

The government has provided identity cards to 1270 freed Kamaiyas and most of them are facing the same problem — they have no homes to live in. About 400 of them are taking shelter on a play ground of a local school. The children and the elderly people are more vulnerable to diseases because they sleep on ground without any nets or any protection from mosquitoes. Rewati Dhakal, chief of the District Land Reform Office informed that the land survey is going on at Sadhepani of Tikapur Municipality and Dhurjanna VDC and that they would be settled as soon as some extra land is found. Few days ago, about 400 freed Kamaiyas had captured the land of Jagatguru Shakaracharya Jayendra Saraswati Ayurvedic University. The Bhimdutta Community Forest had handed over the land to the University by evacuating the freed Kamaiyas living there.