Limi Valley, located beyond the Himalayas in the remote northern part of Humla district, is almost a four-day walk away from the district headquarters, Simikot.

The residents of Namkha Rural Municipality in the valley, home to 82 families spread across Til, Halji and Jang villages, have to descend from around 5,000 metres altitude just to reach the district headquarters, the only place where they can receive government facilities and services.

Limi folk, after the state restructuring, were pushed further back as their demand that the valley be declared a separate rural municipality was not entertained and they became a part of Namkha Rural Municipality with its centre as Yalwang, forcing them a three-day (one way) walk while travelling through an altitude of around 4,500 metres. During winter, heavy snow cuts off Limi Valley from the rest of the villages.

To add to the woes of the locals, government officials rarely reach Limi. There is no postal service, and the only telephone line in the area is also prone to disruption. There is no mobile tower for cell phone connectivity.

“I have heard that the post office that was to be established in Limi has been set up at Yari village,” said former Chairman of the then Tilgaun VDC, Tshewang Dorje Lama, “We are cut off from the rest of the villages for three months during the winter snowfall.”

According to Lama, people of Limi valley have also not been able to benefit from the subsidised salt and rice provided by the government to the people of Humla. “The people of Limi have not received anything from the government except for citizenship and an identity card for us to travel to Tibet,” said Lama, “We cannot travel often to the district headquarters and the government officials do not come here.”

The families in the region are, most of the time, dependent on the Chinese side as they have to buy lump salt and food from Tibet due to a lack of arable land.

People in the valley have a hard time to get medical access as the health post in Limi does not have any health professionals and the free medicines provided by the government do not reach the area. The well-equipped health post in Halji village has been left unused as health professionals hardly go there forcing the locals to seek help from priest doctors at local Gumbas or in serious cases they head to Taklakot in Tibet for medical treatment which is also inaccessible during winter.

Likewise, most of the public schools in the three villages seldom open as the teachers stay in the region only for a short period. One public school in Til village has remained shut for the last one year due to a low number of students.

Raj Bahadur Aidi, a teacher at a primary school in Jang village, said that they have not been able to begin the new academic session as the roads are blocked due to snow. “We teach our students using 1-2 sets of books for a whole year,” said Aidi, “Most of the villagers are illiterate as there are only three primary schools in the rural municipality and there aren’t any secondary level schools.”