Talks between freed Kamaiyas and government inconclusive
Talks between the agitating freed-Kamaiyas (bonded labourers) and the government ended inconclusively on Wednesday after the government failed to agree to provide them land adjoining highways and city areas.
Reports quoted President of Freed Kamaiya Society (FKS), Pashupati Chaudhari as saying that the government on Wednesday agreed to meet all their demands except providing them land adjoining highways and municipal areas where the freed Kamaiya have settled for the last six years.
"Talks with the government representatives could not yield positive results as we could not agree with the government proposal to displace us from where we have been living since our emancipation," he added.
Some 35,000 freed-Kamaiyas have been living on public land of mid and far western Nepal.
Irate by continued government apathy, over 300 former Kamaiya have captured the government land in Tinkune and made some 50 huts in the area.
Freed Kamaiyas have been asking the government to provide land, 35 cubic meters of wood and Rs 10,000 to each household as promised six years ago.
The Sher Bahadur Deuba-led government had declared abolition of the ‘Kamaiya system’ in July 2000 and promised free land and collateral loan to help them launch their own enterprises. Former Kamaiyas, however, say majority of them are still landless and have no means to sustain their families.
According to freed Kamaiyas, of the freed 35,621 Kamaiyas, 19,477 of them are yet to get land from the government. nepalnews.com pb Jan 04 07
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