For locals in Darchula, reclaiming Nepali territory from India will not mean much unless the state finally pays attention to its citizens and the conditions they live in.
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Man Bahadur Basnet
Published at : May 20, 2020
With the onset of winter every year, the residents of Chhangru and Tinkar villages in Darchula’s Byas Rural Municipality descend to district headquarters Khalanga to avoid the cold. When spring arrives, they return to their villages and their fields, ready for the new plantation season.
Ashok Singh Bohara, chairperson of the rural municipality’s Ward No 1, makes this same journey every year with his family. If all goes well, he is generally back in Chhangru by April. But things haven’t so gone well this year.
Nearly two months into the lockdown, around 400 individuals from these two villages, including Bohara, remain in Khalanga, waiting to make their way home. Chhangru, Tinkar and Khalanga are all Nepali territory but getting from one to the other requires traversing through India, as there are no roads or foot trails on Nepali land.
“We haven’t been able to return to our settlements due to the sealed border,” said Bohara. “There is no foot trail to reach the villages through the Nepal side.”
