Twenty two years after their emancipation, many Kamaiyas (Bonded Labourers) in five districts of western Nepal are still deprived of land to build house and live permanently.
Hingu Chaudhary, one of the freed Kamaiyas, has been temporarily living at Bipatpur of Kailali Rural Municipality-7 as she has not received land for permanent residence.
There are many emancipated Kamaiyas like Chaudhary in Bipatpur. They have faced many difficulties while waiting for land to build a permanent residence.
Moreover, they suffered more when the village where they have been living temporarily caught fire in Baisakh.
Likewise, Ram Kumari Chaudhary of Radhakrishna, Dhangadhi Municipality-8, has not received any land. Chaudhary living in the school area has been waiting for appropriate relocation.
The Kamaiyas had been freed just in words. There are still 953 emancipated Kamaiya families who have not been relocated. Even 22 years after they were freed, their situation has not improved.
Ramkumari said that she could not get identity card even 22 years after being freed. Since they could not be relocated the problems are still as they were when they were bonded labourers. She has been maintaining her livelihood working as a labourer.
The then government, also led by Sher Bahadur Deuba, had declared Kailali, Kanchanpur, Dang, Banke and Bardiya free from Kamiyas on July 17, 2000. But most of them have not been relocated till today.
Pashupati Chaudhary, chairman of emancipated Kamaiya Society, said that except for the emancipated Kamaiyas from the city areas the condition of other emancipated Kamaiyas is critical. They have faced problems in health, education, employment and other sectors.
According to the data provided by the Society, there are 8,975 emancipated Kamailyas to receive land for relocation. Out of them, 8,022 families have already received the land. Of the total 953 families, former Kamaiyas who are yet to be relocated, 380 families are yet to receive land, 400 yet to be enrolled for replacement, 173 who were invalided even after getting identity cards in 2001 are still left without land for relocation.
Those emancipated Kamaiyas who have not been relocated have been living in Milanpur, Basanta Tole, Radhakrishna Basti of Dhangadhi Sub-metropolitan City and Ekantanagar of Lumichuha Municipality. Similarly, they have been living in Shivanagar of Tikapur Municipality, Minlanpur, Bipatpur, Sapana and Omnagar of Kailali Rural Municipality and Kamaiya Kamlahari Basti of Gauriganga Municipality. They also have been living in governmental land and forest areas. The families to be enrolled for replacement have been living on the banks of rivers and streams.
The relocation of the emancipated Kamaiyas has been more confusing after the authority for the relocation of emancipated Kamaiyas was handed to the local levels.
After it was handed over to the local levels in 2018, the relocation has stopped completely and none of the emancipated Kamaiya has been relocated since then, said chairman Chaudhary.
The government had allocated budget for the relocation of emancipated Kamaiyas, but the local levels are not authorised for it. Recently formed commission for resolving land problems has informed that it could not resolve the problems of all the emancipated Kamaiyas.
Even though it solved the issue of emancipated Kamaiyas residing in one place for a long period, it could not solve the issue of those who had to be replaced for the enrollment and others, said Chaudhary.
According to the Society, there are 27,571 emancipated Kamaiyas in the five districts. Out of this, 25,195 have already received land for relocation. A total of 2,375 emancipated Kamaiyas, of which 953 are in Kailali, 129 in Kanchanpur, 1,245 in Bardiya and 48 in Dang are still waiting for the land.
The governmental data is different from this as replacement enrollment and invalid identity had not been included in it. So far, only all the emancipated Kamaiyas of Banke have been relocated.
Source : TRN,
