Ashoj 19, Dhading – No family, no relatives, no shelter, no health facilities and no support at all. Aaitamaya Pariyar and Bir Bahadur Bhusal are living under such condition in Damai tole situated in Benighat Rorang-3, Malekhu Thute Pipal.
There is a Dalit dwelling near Malekhu bazar. In this village live 32 households who belong to dalit community, a minor community in Nepal. Men collect sand in the river and women clean fish in Malekhu bazar for a living and to solve hand-to-mouth problems.
In the same village live two helpless people having no family and unable to make an earning for their living. One of them is Aaitimaya Pariyar who is in her 60s and is physically feeble as her fingers are paralyzed. She can’t work anymore. It has been very hard time for her to survive all by begging. She is destined to live under a small lamp although the whole Malekhu bazar is lit with electricity. Though her neighbours had arranged a small cottage on the river bank for her, she does not have a toilet.
When we reached her cottage, she was making curry. She seemed quite happy at the moment because someone had provided her with one bag of rice, pulse, salt and sugar. “I thought I would die of hunger, but he bought me a bag of rice. So, I am very happy,” she said to us.
She shared her story with us, “I visited ward office time and again; the chairperson never came to visit me after the election. He told me that my name had been enlisted as a homeless. Now, I can’t work for myself anymore, people did not allow me to stay in old age home for being a dalit. It has been very difficult to survive.”
Similarly, Bir Bahadur Bhusal is also a helpless and poverty stricken. He lives alone with no money and no work. He has been very weak that he can’t work in the river anymore. The work of cleaning fish has stopped paying him. And he has been waiting for someone to help him by giving food and shelter. When we reached his cottage, he had no food to eat, he was living in a cramped area.
Through this article, we want to draw the attention of all the readers to discuss about the solutions whereby these two helpless people can get food and shelter.
The government of two-third majority has done nothing for them. Even the people’s representatives haven’t planned anything new for this village where poor dalits are living. Around 25 women live there and they are interested to learn new skills and get livelihood training.
Not only the government, but also the non-governmental organizations are unaware of this village where women are unemployed and men are working in the river to collect sand.
Among the 32 households in Thute Pipal Dalit settlement, only 10 household received the relief amount for reconstructing their houses destroyed by the earthquake in 2072. The villagers, who have no idea about the central and provincial government, are complaining about the local body that paid no attention even when the whole village is suffering from starvation.
When the locals managed a place for Aaitamaya to live in, many people including leaders and police officers came there to move her cottage from there. If you want to help them by providing a cottage to live in, you can contact a local social worker Nirmal Narayan 9851127266 or secretory of District Football Association Ramhari Thapa 9141464039 or you can meet them yourself.
