Urmila Tamang and Others Face Hardship in Holding Centers

A heart-wrenching scene! At the Gongabu holding center, Urmila Tamang was weeping inconsolably. Tears streamed down her face. But do you know? She doesn't have her right hand, not even fingers, to wipe her own tears.

She was removed from the slum settlement on the banks of Manohara and kept at the Gongabu holding center. After being told to leave from there too, she is in a storm of terrible pain.

Urmila, whose hands and fingers were amputated after being burned at the age of 6 months, has a life story like a heart pierced with a cruel cross. She is sick. There are only empty medicine packets around. The 25,000 rupees given by the government to buy medicine has been used up. Forget food, she says she doesn't even have money to buy medicine now.

Urmila has shed many tears before. Now she is shedding even more. Yes, she doesn't have her own fingers to wipe her tears. There is no one to wipe her tears. Instead, there are those who push her to shed tears profusely.

Although the government asked her to leave the holding center, she is still there. Because she has no one of her own, nowhere to go. Fortunately, the Tripura Sundari Hotel, which has been converted into a holding center, has kept her so far. But how long can the hotel alone do this?

Urmila's situation is exactly like this, like this line from a song sung by Narayan Gopal:

'Don't know where to go after waking up tomorrow

Don't know if I will return...'.

Urmila is one character. The lives of many landless people like her have been 'held' in holding centers. Neither here nor there. Those who left have left the shelter, but where will the rest go?

The restless daily lives of those 'held' in holding centers like her are dire. For example, the miserable condition of those remaining in the Ichangunarayan Apartment holding center in Nagarjun. After being told to leave the center, they were denied even water, let alone food.

Do people like Ravina Bardewa, who are facing problems in the center, not need anyone to answer their questions? 'Aren't landless people human? Aren't they citizens of this country...?'

...........

Let's remember the status of Prime Minister Balendra Shah (Balen), which had immense hope, trust, and reactions.

On April 24, Prime Minister Shah shared pictures of settlements that were flooded last year on social media Facebook, writing a long status about the need to vacate settlements for the safety of landless people living by the riverbanks. He wrote, 'Do you forget or remember? Every year, due to floods, thousands of people living on the riverbanks of Kathmandu have had to flee, leaving all their belongings, and the government has had to rescue them! This is a problem of many years and a destiny that repeats every year. This problem should not be postponed for the coming year, and arrangements should be made for them to live in safe places, which I have repeatedly written and said.'

Through this status, Shah had urged them to be assured of the government's strong determination to solve this long-standing problem.

This status, shared by 27,000 people, received 56,200 comments, many of which expressed hope, trust, and anticipation.

The next day, bulldozers started clearing the landless settlements. The settlements were vacated. The residents were moved to various holding centers.

But on July 11, something else happened. The landless people were thrown from the frying pan into the fire. That midnight, the floodwaters entered the Radhaswami Satsang holding center in Kirtipur. The holding center, built for their safety, was completely submerged. Food, clothes were submerged. The children's notebooks and their remaining dreams were also submerged.

A boy, Bishwanath Gurung, carrying a zebra bag packed with wet notebooks, emerging from the flooded holding center.

Now they (89 people from 31 families) have been moved from there and kept at the KhariPati holding center in Bhaktapur.

• Who will wipe their tears?

The government has stated that efforts are being made for their management. An initial rehabilitation grant of 25,000 rupees has been given, asking them to make their own arrangements. Similarly, it has been said that genuine landless people will be identified and given 15,000 rupees for at least three months until other alternatives are found.

On April 27, Shah released another status clarifying that no citizen would be rendered homeless.

He wrote, '...It is informed that the government is fully committed to ensuring safe, dignified, and permanent housing for every landless citizen. No citizen will be allowed to become homeless.'

After receiving the amount and being told to make their own arrangements, some people have left the center and gone their separate ways. However, out of 380 families in six holding centers, many families are still struggling in the centers.

However, there are complaints that some shrewd individuals are also benefiting from the money. It is urgent to investigate them immediately. But the main point is that it is too late to manage the genuine landless people who are struggling even for drinking water inside the holding centers.

Their eyes are filled with tears and anger. As mentioned above, Urmila does not have her own fingers to wipe her tears. Even for those who have fingers, there is no environment to wipe their tears freely.

In fact, they want the state to wipe their tears. They need protection from the state forever. They need guardianship. Let's believe that their management will happen as the government has said. But let that management happen before a major accident. Management after the dam of patience breaks will be meaningless, only regret will remain.

We must learn from the previous powerful rulers about when the hearts of citizens break and mend. A government that has received extraordinary popular votes and affection should not make anyone cry. Instead, it should be an extremely responsible guardian. We must think so that the people's eyes do not water. If they do, wipe them humbly.

Tears are dangerous, they give birth to rebellion. If there is a delay in managing, pacifying, and addressing the suppressed hearts confined within the holding centers, tears can take a different form. We must remember the pages of history. Like this part of Jivan Sharma's song:

'Like fire in ashes, buried deep inside

The flame of anger rumbling deep inside the heart

Where the torch of hunger and pain burns

There, a volcano erupts...'

Yes, no one should illegally occupy any land, no encroachment should happen. It's fine, perhaps land encroachment has been removed after the government's action, but what happens if the hearts of its own citizens are encroached upon? It's fine, perhaps the encroached land is saved, but what happens if the hearts of its own voters are not saved? And what happens if the flood of their tears drowns other settlements? For this, the government must be serious. And should not the responsible political parties and their organizations, opened for public service, speak up?

Seeing all these developments, one remembers this question asked by writer Khagendra Sangraula on social media, '...The red and blue political parties, Akhil, Nepal Student Union, YCL, Youth Force, etc., who always beat the drum for the rights of the common people, what are they watching? Have they all collectively gone to heaven?'