Sudurpaschim Province
Nepalis are swimming across the Mahakali to get home
Around 500 Nepali migrant workers are currently stuck at the border with India in Darchula because of the ongoing lockdown, and they're desperate to get back.Manoj Badu
On Monday, three Nepalis swam across the Mahakali river from India to try and re-enter Nepal. They were detained on the Nepali side of the border by security personnel from the Nepal Police and Armed Police Force.
"We swam across the river to request the Chief District Officer to open the gate to the suspension bridge," said Indraraj Khatri of Dilashaini Rural Municipality in Baitadi, one of the three men.
The three men, along with 500 Nepalis, have been stranded in Dharchula, on the Indian side of the border, for four days now, as both countries remain under lockdown to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
#याे दृश्य दार्चुला सदरमुकाम पारी धार्चुला भारतको हाे !
— Narbahadur Bista (@BistaNarbahadur) March 29, 2020
भारतको विभिन्न क्षेत्रबाट अाएर जम्मा भएका नेपालीहरू नेपाल प्रवेशकाे माग राखेर नाराबाजी गरिराखेका छन् ! pic.twitter.com/SFtJhMaWpN
On Friday night, Nepali authorities had rescued 225 Nepalis from Dharchula by opening a suspension bridge that connects India to Nepal. The Indian city of Dharchula is spelled slightly differently from the Nepali district of Darchula, on the other side of the border.
The bridge, however, was only open for a day, on March 24 and since then, around 500 Nepalis have gathered on the Indian side, demanding to be let in.
“We came here assuming that the bridge will be open,” said Karan Dhami, a Purchaudi local and one of the workers protesting the closure, “but it’s closed and we don’t even have any food. We have been spending our nights by the Mahakali River."
Most of the Nepalis are daily wage labourers working in Didihat, Dar and Sobala areas of India. On Sunday evening, they chanted slogans against the Nepal government, demanding that the gate be opened.
Responding to the Nepalis' plight, Sunday’s Cabinet meeting decided to allow all Nepalis stranded on the Nepal-India border to enter the country on the condition that they remain in quarantine for 14 days.
The government has mandated strict action as per the Infectious Disease Act against those who have returned from abroad but refuse to report and self quarantine themselves.
दुई दिन देखि दिनको एक छाक खाएर खुला अाकाश मुनि , पारी बाट अाफ्नाे देश हेर्दै महाकालीको पानी छाम्दै स्वदेश प्रवेशकोलागि अनुय विनय गरिराखेका नेपाली दाजुभाइ !
— Narbahadur Bista (@BistaNarbahadur) March 30, 2020
तर राज्य निर्लज्ज र लाचार छ ! अाफ्ना जनता जाेगाउन सरकारको दायित्व हैन ?
@दार्चुला pic.twitter.com/TkxZ240k0T
However, according to Yadunath Paudel, chief district officer of Darchula, the district does not have quarantine facilities to house 500 people.
"But we are talking to the authorities and looking at solutions,” said Paudel.
The stranded workers are primarily from Darchula, Baitadi and Bajhang districts in Sudurpaschim province.
India announced a complete lockdown on March 23, which saw a mass exodus of Nepali migrant workers making their way to their home districts in Nepal. Nepal followed suit, instituting a lockdown of its own on March 24. The lockdown has now been extended until April 7 midnight.
Padam Bahadur Dhami, a local of Purchaudi in Baitadi, said he walked for three days to reach Dharchula from Didihat.
“I came up to the bridge because I heard we would be allowed in. But the pathway is closed, he said. "There are many like me waiting to cross the border and we are running out of the little money we had. How can our government allow this to happen to us?”