Nepali men from various districts of Sudur Paschim and Karnali provinces have started to leave for India for jobs with the end of Dashain festival.

Movement of India-bound migrant workers has increased at Gaddachowki border point in Kanchanpur. Border officials said in the previous years, movement at the border used to pick up only after Tihar festival.

“We are going to celebrate Tihar in India this year,” said Kaile Luhar of Bajura district. He and his brothers work in India along with several other men from their village of Kolti.

“We certainly want to celebrate Tihar with our families in our village, but we have to earn in order to survive and feed our families,” Luhar said. On Thursday, 13 people from Kolti alone crossed the Gaddachowki border, on their way to various Indian cities. Birkhe Luhar, one of the migrant workers, said most of them work menial jobs in Uttarakhand state of India.

“There are no jobs for us back home. Farming is no good because what we produce hardly lasts for three months. At least in India, we get work throughout the year,” he said. Sometimes even children are caught travelling with their elder relatives to India. On Tuesday, the border security force stopped 22 children from Budinanda Municipality of Bajura district while they were trying to enter India in search for work.

“These children were between 5 and 12 years. We could not allow them to cross the border. They were returned home,” said Sub Inspector Padam Bahadur Budhamagar at Area Police Office in Gaddachowki.

Published on: 26 October 2018 | The Kathmandu Post