The freed Kamaiya (bonded laborers) members living in Bani freed Kamaiya camp in Kanchanpur district are still struggling to earn their living though they have been rehabilitated.
Bipti Chaudhary, who arrived at Bani camp after the government liberated Kamaiya from their bonds in 2000, has no other option but to collect sand and pebbles on the river banks during the winter season. “I have been struggling to collect sand and pebbles. It’s really difficult to manage two squares of meal to my family if I don’t earn wages,” she shared.
Bipti and other freed Kamaiya said that the land plot of five kattha given from the government on the riverbed is not fertile. “We don’t go for farming in the land plot,” Chandralal Chaudhary, another freed Kamaiya said.
Of the 568 freed-Kamaiya residing in the Bani camp, 150 households are at the receiving end due to the poor soil quality of the land received from the government. In the meantime, many of the freed-Kamaiya youth have left for foreign job fearing further deterioration in their situation.
The freed-Kamaiya members have also asked the authorities to develop an embankment on the bank of Machheli river to protect their settlement from the monsoon flooding.
