With the sharp increase in the number of returnees from India in Bajura, the district has become vulnerable to the second wave of coronavirus, which is much more aggressive and deadlier than the first one.
Villages in all nine local levels of Bajura have become increasingly empty. With the completion of paddy planting in the first week of Saun, many young people are heading to India for employment.
locals of Bajura have started going to India for work after finishing sowing wheat at home. People are going to India for manual work since there is no job scope in the village. Dhan Bahadur Sarki of Budhiganga Municipality-10 said that after finishing sowing wheat in November, he started preparing to go to India to work for a few months. “Since there are no job opportunities in the village, we are forced to go to India to do manual labour durin
A 22-year-old girl, who was being trafficked to India, was rescued from Gaddachauki along the Nepal-India border.
According to Shanti Punarsthapan Griha (SPG), a woman of Tribeni Municipality-5 of Bajura was rescued from the Nepal-India border.
Several women of Bajura are ecstatic over the prospect of earning daily wages at their own home turf instead of relocating to India for employment opportunities. With no scope for work, many women usually accompanied their husbands across the border for foreign employment.
COVID -19 has forced the youth of Bajura to work in their own villages rather than going back abroad. The youth who were working in India had to come back home after their workplace has shut down due to the lockdown.
MARTADI, June 27: Muktikot village of Swamikartik Khapar Rural Municipality-1 in Bajura has suffered food shortage. The prolonged drought and COVID-19 crisis led to the emergence of food crisis in the village.
Local Bal Bahadur BK said the village is home to around 400 Dalit families and they are struggling to meet their daily food requirements.
They are out of work due to COVID-19 crisis. “We have neither job nor food,” he said. India is the labour destination for a majority of youths in the village. But with the outbreak of second wave of the pandemic, they returned homes and are staying idle. The local production is sufficient to the requirement just for a month. They rely on market for almost throughout the year, according to locals.
Muktikot is gripped by the food crisis and malnutrition is the common health issue among children here, according to Swamikartik Rural Municipality information officer Kuber Shahi. Children, pregnant and aged people are the most affected. Malnutrition is one of the reasons for the child mortality rate in the village.
The village has not got any support from the federal and province governments yet. The Poor House Hold Identity Board’s-2072 report states that 75 percent households in Swamikartik fall below the poverty line. Out of 2,185 households, 1,038 are living with absolute poverty, the report shows.
Though it is mandatory for returnees from India to stay in some sort of isolation for a certain period before they mingle with their families due to the risk of coronavirus, migrant workers in Bajura are seen openly moving around in their villages, with the authority concerned doing little to make them comply with the isolation or quarantine provisions.
The Nepali workers have been returning home from various Indian cities to observe the Bishu festival, the New Year celebration. Growing spread of coronavirus in India is also behind the influx of home comers.
The people from Dadeldhura, Baitadi, Darchula, Bajhang, Doti, Bajura, and Achham are returning home of late.
Chief of District Health Office, Shivaraj Sunar, informed that more than 1,000 people were returning home from India daily via Gaddachauki border point. They have been tested for coronavirus in case of the symptoms similar to the virus, he added.
He confirmed that 26 Nepalis returning home via Gaddachauki border point were tested positive for coronavirus last week. "The infected ones have been managed treatment at Mahakali Hospital after being transported by ambulance. Efforts are underway to set up additional isolation wards," he added.
The aura of Bishu festival has however subsided with the increasing spread of coronavirus in the country recently. One of the big festivals in Sudurpaschim Province, Bishu festival, was marked with less vigor last year too.
