Dhangadhi : Twelve years ago today, in 2065 BS, the Government of Nepal declared the liberation of Haliya across the country. However, Nanda Luhar of Doti has not been able to feel anything till now. The reason is that the government has not yet experienced the expectations of the Haliyas when they were declared free.
In various districts of the far-western states, the practice of haliya has not been completely eradicated, that is, it is still going on. In some other districts, there are thousands of Haliyas yet to be identified and the diaries of those who have been denied identity cards have not changed. In the past, the practice of becoming a bonded laborer for generations after taking a loan was prevalent in this state. Even now, thousands of people in Dadeldhura, Baitadi, Doti, Bajhang, Darchula, Kailali and Kanchanpur of the state are forced to embrace this practice as a profession.
Khadka Raj Joshi, state coordinator of the Informal Sector Service Center (INSEC), who has been working in the field of Haliya emancipation for a long time, says that many people are suffering due to serious error in data collection of Haliya 12 years ago. He said that the real haliyas are still living a miserable life as the facilities provided by the state have not reached all the haliyas.
"It is difficult for the freed Haliyas to work with the money given by the government. The government should pay attention to make them accessible to self-employment and entrepreneurship programs," Joshi suggested to the government. Joshi stressed on the need for effective monitoring of the package so far as the package has not been able to address the problem of free haliya. In the last 12 years, the government has distributed 'packages' to about 10,000 of those identified as Haliya, including money to buy land, build houses and repair houses.
They are waiting for such a package. Despite repeated claims by government officials that the government has an ambitious goal of rehabilitating all the remaining Haliyas, the Haliya community and human rights activists are still dissatisfied with the lack of a proper address.The freed Haliyas are not happy with the rehabilitation package implemented by the government. The Haliya community is complaining that the government's rehabilitation package is inadequate and implemented without a detailed investigation.
They have been demanding 10 ropanis of land in the hills or 10 katthas of land in the Terai for their livelihood. Ram Bahadur Parki of Dadeldhura, known as the first freed Haliya, says that he could not buy good land with the money given by the government. He said that he chose the village side to get a little more land than the city from the limited amount of money.
Today should be considered as a day of rejoicing as the day of liberation, but the liberated people are not as happy as the year of liberation. On the one hand, there is an epidemic of corona virus and on the other hand, free haliyas are waiting for a government with proper management of the disease. Even after 12 years of liberation, the Haliyas have not been fully rehabilitated.