No job, no income, no Dashain for these Biratnagar folks
A small, old house submerged by monsoon floods. The sackcloth covering the structure wearing out. The roof, leaking. Chiltu Rishidev of Biratnagar Metropolitan City-16 sits quietly in front of his dilapidated house. You can make out lines of worry on his face even from a distance.
The daily-wage earner, who is also his family’s sole bread-winner, has been unable to work properly in the past eight months because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Now he has reached a stage where he cannot provide anything for his family. “The pandemic has destroyed our livelihood,” he says. “It’s been a long time since people like us who survive on daily wages have had a proper meal.” He laments he can’t even properly feed his children when they cry of hunger.
Chiltu sees Dashain more as a source of financial burden than a time of merriment. “Instead of merriment, our Dashain this year will be spent in hunger,” he says.
Similar is the story of Bhuvan Rishidev of Biratnagar-16. Bhuvan, who had been feeding a family of seven from his daily wage, has lost his livelihood as well. “Whatever little we had saved has been spent on food,” Bhuvan says. “Now as Dashain enters the country’s affluent houses, all that we can welcome in our house are hunger and grief.”
Bhuvan’s house, built on public land, was also submerged by monsoon floods. Along with the house, the floods also damaged what little food they had in store, as well as their clothes and property. The family is trying to repair the damaged house, to make it livable, even as they have now been reduced to begging for survival. “It is heart-wrenching to see my children cry out of hunger. But there is no one to help us. The local political leaders, they are adept at using poor people like us as their vote banks. Seldom do they help us in any meaningful way.”
Poonam Rishidev of Biratnagar-19 squatter settlement also lost her livelihood due to the pandemic. She too lives in a small hut on public land. Poonam used to work as domestic help in various places, which helped her feed her family. “No one calls me to work anymore,” she says. “Everyone wants to eat good food and wear new clothes in Dashain, but my family is on the verge of starvation.”
Poonam’s children have been asking for new clothes this Dashain, she says, but she cannot afford any. Her first priority is making sure they get food. “I wish I could feed them properly every day. Clothes, we’ll manage with the old rags we have,” she says, recalling the past when she earned more, not less, during Dashain. Poonam has been taking out loans to arrange daily meals for her family. But now, even the lenders baulk at giving her anything, she says. “I kept my children happy by doing pots and pans in other people’s houses. But doesn’t the local ward office offer any help? “When we go there, we get abuses not help”.
Province 1: Learning the ropes of federalism
Biratnagar : The first meeting of the Province 1 assembly on Feb 5, 2018 had a fresh vibe to it. It hosted lawmakers, some of whom had donned their traditional ethnic attires, from all the 14 districts of the province.
That was a year ago. Provincial lawmakers say that while they haven’t been able to meet all public expectations, the provincial government has taken shape and its work has gathered momentum in the last year. “In the initial days, because of lack of laws and frequent staff transfers, we couldn’t do much work, but now it has picked up pace,” says Sarwadhoj Sawa, a provincial lawmaker elected from Sunsari. “The government is working steadily to fulfill public expectations.”
He says local bodies expect support from the provincial government in developing and implementing large-scale projects. It’s the provincial government that allocates budget for these projects. The projects are selected and the budget for them allocated based on the requests from local governments and the lobbying from provincial lawmakers. Because the provincial government is bigger than the local government, people stress that the former should get to allocate a bigger budget for various projects.
Bir Bahadur Limbu, the chairperson of Taltalaiya Development Committee in Itahari, says that Itahari sub-metropolis has allocated a development budget of Rs 5 million for Taltalaiya. The provincial government, on the other hand, has allocated Rs 2.5 million for it. Limbu thinks the budget allocated by the provincial government is a bit small. “But I’ve heard that it’s the provincial government that makes the masterplan. It can support us in other ways. I expect a lot of support from it in the days ahead,” says Limbu. Now that the country has adopted a federal model and formed provincial governments for the first time, Limbu expects the Province 1 government to expand its areas of support and treat all projects fairly and impartially.
Province 1 Chief Minister Sherdhan Rai says that as provincial governments came into being for the first time in the country, he faces the challenge of starting many things from scratch.
Also Read:
Province 2: Learning the ropes of federalism
Province 3: Learning the ropes of federalism
Gandaki: Learning the ropes of federalism
Province 5: Learning the ropes of federalism
