Bhawani Bhatta  

Puja Chandara of Dhakanaghat in Mahakali Municipality spends most of her time these days by the banks of Mahakali River in Kanchanpur district. Local women from the municipality including Chandara have been working on a construction site by the Mahakali River for the past three months.

They have been hired to work on the embankment of the river. The construction works of the embankment have been commissioned mostly to women, giving them a chance at earning daily wages. This has provided the women of Dhakanaghat with much needed employment, said Chandara. “We have been able to earn money by working on the embankment construction,” said Chandara, who was seen carrying rocks and setting up wire nets for the gabion along with other women. “We have to worry about how to put food on our table if we don’t work.

This has helped us earn some money.” The embankment construction is being done in view of the upcoming monsoon season when the level of river water increases dangerously. “We get Rs 500 per day for carrying rocks and putting them at the gabion,” said Bisna, another woman working at the construction site. “The work provides us enough to feed our family twice daily. It helps us take care of our household expenses without having to seek money from our husband.” Bisna further said that her small farmland barely provides food for three months and that she has to alternate between working at the farm and other labour jobs to sustain her family’s livelihood.

Until a few years ago, Indian workers were hired to build the gabion for the embankment. However, after learning the skills to construct gabion and the embankment, Nepali workers have replaced the Indian workers. Most of the workers involved in the construction of the embankment come from the Tharu community who are skilled in weaving the wire nets for the gabion

Published on: 11 June 2019 | The Kathmandu Post