PRAKASH SINGH

BAJURA: Dharma Sarki of Jhalgaun in Triveni Municipality of Bajura had been living in India for 20 years. Sarki who had been working and living in Karol Bagh, New Delhi along with his wife and a daughter arrived in Nepal about four months ago on April 16 following closures of businesses with the surging cases of COVID-19. A daily wager, Dharma Sarki had never thought he would have to return to Nepal amid such uncertainties.

The migrant returnee possesses neither any land nor a house in his home village. Meanwhile, his family has been taking shelter at their relatives’ home since their return. The family had stayed in a quarantine facility for 16 days upon their return to the village following which they have been facing problems due to lack of food and shelter.

Dharma said, ” I have already sold whatever land and property I had. I don’t even have a penny to my name now, so my family’s survival depends on borrowings,” and expressed concern over the length of time on which could he continue living on others’ mercy.

The Sarki family came across the news that Triveni Municipality would provide relief to those hit hard by the scarcity of food and shelter amid COVID-19 crisis. However, they have not received any relief to date. Dharma Sarki said that he has not received any food grains from the authorities, adding, that his family was in such state that the possibility of them dying from hunger is larger than facing the same consequence at the hands of coronavirus. He lamented that local representatives and government have not taken his struggle seriously. 

According to Triveni-8 ward chair Bhim Bahadur Thapa, the municipality did distribute relief items to some returnees from India in the beginning but it could not continue providing relief to others as the budget has been spent for controlling the spread of the virus and on establishing quarantine facilities.

It has been widely reported that those that have returned from India after losing jobs due to businesses closing down can be found in each and every village in the district.

The family of Ambika Karki of Kolti in Budhinanda Municipality-2 recently returned home after having lived in India for six years. Ambika and her husband Ganga were working and living in the Indian capital along with their six children.

Ganga had returned home to attend the funeral of his mother in Bajura on February 14. After carrying out the last rites, he headed back to India but he was stranded at Nepalgunj border due to nationwide lockdown imposed by the government to curb the spread of coronavirus, on March 25.

Then after, Ambika along with her children also came to Nepalgunj where they reunited with Ganga and started living in a rented room. Unfortunately, Ambika’s husband fell to death from a house roof after two months. After the incident, she along with her children left Nepalgunj for their home village. 

Upon reaching their village, they had to stay at the quarantine facility in Janaprakash Secondary School for 24 days. At present, Ambika’s family is taking shelter at her kin’s home. Ambika does not possess any property in the village. Her children are also at the risk of suffering from malnutrition. She said, “I’m worried as it is difficult to earn a living and to afford to buy food for the children and to pay for their education.”

Janesh Bhandari, a teacher in the district, said Ambika and her children are facing shortage of food. “We collected money and gave her kitchenware utensils and rice that could last for a month,” Bhandari further stated. “People  couldn’t continue with their contribution as they started facing difficulties of their own with the spread of the pandemic.”

Naule Nepali, another native of Kalapani, Triveni-8 also returned from India after a decade amid the pandemic. He had been living together with his wife and five children in Okhla. He returned home after the shutdown of the company he was associated with, about four months ago, in April.

Nepali was working as a security guard in India. As he had been living in a foreign land for a long time, his only house in the village had been damaged in lack of proper maintenance. He has no other land in the name of property. He and his family members also had to stay in quarantine for 20 days until their swab specimen tested negative for COVID-19. Meanwhile, the family is taking shelter at his elder brother’s home.

Like others, his family is also facing issues owing to the acute shortage of food. They have been living on food items provided by neighbours and fellow villagers. “We are living at my elder brother’s home but it is difficult to get adequate meals every day, as everyone is facing an issue owing to the current crisis,” said Naule.

His wife Radhika is a patient of ulcer. She has not been able to get treatment due to lack of finances. Radhika used to take medicines regularly while in India but she is currently deprived of medical treatment. Their three sons and two daughters have already been suffering from malnutrition due to lack of proper and adequate food.

Born in India, each of their children differs in their age by a few years.

Local governments are not aware of the conditions of returnees like Nepali. They have not received any support from ward or municipality offices. “There are no jobs, no money, no support from the nation, but only the addition of grief to life,” Naule said, adding, “We were depending on borrowed items but that is no longer an option as famine has struck the entire village.”

Prem Sarki, also a resident of Kalapani, returned to his homeland after a 20-year-long stay in India, on May 4. He had been working in Delhi while his three sons and a daughter were studying there. Prem had never given much thought to returning to Nepal, however, he was compelled to return home due to COVID-19 pandemic.

The Sarki family is currently taking shelter at Kalu Sarki’s home since their return.

Since Prem Sarki has no job, it has become difficult for him to manage daily expenditures for the six-member family and he regrets having sold him property. He stated that local grocers have also refused to supply them anything on credit, anymore.

Prem intended to leave his family behind and go to India to work again but since the souther neighbours are hard hit by the pandemic, there are no signals of things getting better as far as foreign employment is concerned.

It has come to light that many other returnees like Prem have not received any support from the local government.

Unable to afford to pay for shroud or funeral

The family of Kalamati Damai of Majhigaun in Badimalika Municipality-2, who had been living in India for the past 24 years, returned home on June 10. Her family of six stayed at a quarantine facility established at Bhaunera-based Satyabadi Secondary School in Badimalika-2.

In a sad turn of events, her husband Bhupendra died by suicide after two days of stay at the quarantine.

It has been learnt that he was a patient of asthma and was going through a difficult time due to the current financial crisis. Kalamati had managed to earn living for her family working as domestic help in India. But after the lockdown was imposed, she lost her job and was compelled to return home. She also lost her husband and her life ‘moved into darkness’.

Apparently, Kalamati did not even have enough money to buy a shroud for her husband’s funeral. Consequentially, she could not perform the 13-day rites. She carried her husband’s body not very far from the quarantine centre, where she buried him. Kalamati could not afford a shroud, neither did she have any money to buy incense sticks to carry out the rituals.

She, along with her four children, stayed in the quarantine facility for 25 days. The municipality had arranged for the meals at the quarantine facility. But after she returned home, her problems only worsened.

Her house was damaged due to lack of maintenance. As such, her family has been sheltering at one of the villagers’ home. She expressed her grief as she was clueless about the means to make an earning to afford food for her four children. The municipality ward-2 office had provided Kalamati’s family with 30 kilograms of rice, according to ward chair Dammar Mahat. The ward chair, however, expressed that the office can only do as much.”For how long can the poor family live only on the relief support from the ward office?” Mahat questioned.

These are just a few representative cases of the people who have recently returned home from India and are struggling to survive in lack of support from local representatives.

The statistics of the Bajura District Health Office shows that a total of 8,381 people who have lost jobs in India have returned home during the lockdown. All of them were sent to their homes after placing them in quarantine for a set period of time. 

Budhinanda’s Deputy Mayor Shristi Regmi shared, “The returnees from India have not been provided with any relief or other support although the budget was allocated to provide transportation expenses for Dalits and other marginalised communities.”

The majority of returnees placed in quarantine could not get relief provided by the municipality. By the time they were due to return home, the distribution of relief items had already stopped, according to executive member of Triveni Municipality, Hari Nepali.

Afterwards, many other people returned home from India and they have been facing problems due to shortage of food.

In Bajura, a total of eight local levels except Budhiganga have announced budget for the current fiscal year. But none of the budgets includes any programme to solve the issues faced by the migrant returnees.

Badimalika Municipality Mayor Padam Baduwal said, “At present, floods and landslides have taken over all other issues so the local government has not been able to pay attention to other problems.”

Published on: 25 August 2020 | The Himalayan Times