Freed Kamaiyas announce protests

The Freed Kamaiya Society announced on Thursday that the freed Kamaiyas would step into Kathmandu on Monday to gherao Singhadurbar.

Chairman of the Society, Pashupati Chaudhari, told media persons in the capital that around four or five freed Kamaiyas from each of hundreds of temporary freed Kamaiya settlements were set to come to Kathmandu "to capture the land here".

Chaudhary said they would bar officials at the District Land Reforms Offices, the District Forest Offices and District Development Offices of Banke, Bardiya, Kailali, Kanchanpur and Dang districts from carrying out their works.

He said the government must include former Kamaiyas in the Freed Kamaiya Rehabilitation Central Committee and Directory Committee for Resolution of Freed Kamaiya Problems.

MP Prakash Jwala of the Parliamentary Committee for Natural Resources accused the state of turning a blind eye to the right of former Kamaiyas right to shelter and asked the Kamaiyas to launch an agitation to get their voices heard.

Minister for Land Reforms and Management Prabhu Narayan Chaudhary claimed that the associations of freed Kamaiyas did not allow the government officials to continue their work aimed at rehabilitating them. He even said some elements had been interfering into the government's efforts to find a solution to the problems facing the freed Kamaiyas.

Kamaiyas were declared freed six years ago but over 30,000 freed Kamaiyas in mid and far-western terai still live without home. Governments in the past failed to settle them permanently. nepalnews.com ia Dec 22 06