Province 2 Bureau

Jagadish Mahato of Gair in Kabilasi Municipality, Sarlahi, is the sole bread earner for his 12-member family—his wife and 10 children. The nationwide lockdown has put him out of work for the past three weeks. His savings, in cash and kind, is already spent.

“I’ve been borrowing food and cash from local shopkeepers, neighbours and relatives,” said Jagadish. “But how long can this go on for?”

Hundreds of families from impoverished communities in several districts of Province 2 are hit hardest by the protracted lockdown enforced to prevent the outbreak of Covid-19. The breadwinners of these families are daily wage workers and they have lost their source of income due to the lockdown, making it difficult for them to make ends meet.

The authorities concerned are yet to reach out to these settlements with reliefs.

To provide relief to the families hit hardest by the lockdown, the provincial government had provided Rs 1 million to Rs 2.5 million to each local unit for the procurement and distribution of relief. However, it has been more than three weeks since the lockdown started and most of the local bodies are yet to implement the budget.

“I am more worried about how to fill out stomachs than contracting the disease right now. I heard the government is providing relief through the local bodies, but nobody has come to our settlement so far,” said Mahato.

Most of the local units in all eight districts of the province have spent the last three weeks assessing data of those in need of government relief. Incidents of irregularities and biases in relief distribution are frequently reported, leaving the destitute people without any government help.

There are a total of 136 local units, including a metropolis, in the province. 

Officials at Kabilashi Municipality in Sarlahi have admitted to the delay in relief distribution.

“We are still assessing data of the needy families to distribute relief. We have been unable to work efficiently due to a lack of employees in the municipality,” said Mayor Kaushal Kishwor Yadav. 

Janakpur Sub-metropolitan City, the provincial capital, has also yet to begin relief distribution. According to Gopal Regmi, the chief administrative officer of the sub-metropolis, only 12 wards of a total of 25 have sent their list of beneficiaries so far. He said the sub-metropolis has decided to provide a relief package of 15 kg rice, 1.5 kg pulses, 3 kg potatoes and 1 kg salt to each affected household in the first phase. 

“The packages could not be distributed as the ward chiefs failed to submit the list of the beneficiaries on time,” he said.

In Rautahat, Chandrapur Municipality has decided to provide 20 kg rice along with other essentials to each household of daily wage workers and impoverished Dalits. But the municipality has so far distributed relief at ward No. 3 only.

“The relief distribution got halted because people from well-to-do families also came forward claiming the relief package. We will soon finalise the list of beneficiaries and start distribution again,” said Sanjaya Kafle, chief of ward No. 5 in the municipality.

“The local units should work promptly in distributing relief to the needy. But the people’s representatives have shown poor management and leadership qualities in these difficult times,” said Raj Kumar Raut Kurmi, a civil society leader in Siraha. 

In Aahale of Siraha, there are 21 impoverished families of landless Musahars, and none of them has received any relief from the government so far. Sixty-year-old Sudawa Musahar and his wife Devi, daily wage workers, said they haven’t had work since the lockdown started and are running out of food and essentials.

“We are managing food by borrowing from neighbours but if the lockdown continues, we might face starvation,” Sudawa told the Post. 

(Om Prakash Thakur in Sarlahi, Bharat Jarghamagar in Siraha, Shyam Sundar Shashi in Janakpur and Shiva Puri in Rautahat reported the story.)

Published on: 18 April 2020 | The Kathmandu Post