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Kathmandu Thursday January 25, 2001 Magh 12, 2057.
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Kamaiyas not in forests
This is in response to Hari Prasad
Dulal’s letter titled "Kamaiyas and environment" published on January 22,
2001, TKP. Dulal’s concerns, though genuine, are misplaced. It is true that starting
from Thursday, January 18, fed up with living under squalid conditions in temporary camps,
about 3,000 ex-Kamaiya families in Kailali and Kanchanpur districts have been moving into
about 19 undesignated but government owned open spaces covering a total of about 1,500
bighas of land.
It is not true that the ex-Kamaiyas have
encroached upon forests or chopped down trees. This is why, rangers from the department of
forests have not made any arrests, nor have the local District Development Committees and
Chief District Officers harassed any ex-Kamaiya.
By moving into government-owned but
non-forest spaces, what the ex-Kamaiyas have done, through this act of civil disobedience,
is help the government soon reach a decision: Either show the promised land (at the rate
of 10 katthas or 6.5 ropanis per freed family) to the ex-Kamaiyas or help them settle
permanently in these otherwise unused, non-forest chunks of land.
Ashutosh Tiwari
Dhangadi, Kailali |
