KATHMANDU, March 12: There was nothing to eat at home. The crop the family produced from about a ropani of non-irrigated field was never enough to feed the family for more than three months.
Bimala Tamang, 23, of Pida-8 of Dhading district said that she had gone to work early in the morning leaving behind her children at home on Monday, where they ate unleavened bread made from flour tainted with pesticide. Six members of the same family died and 16 others, including her children Raju, 3, and 10 months old Ramila, fell seriously ill after consuming the roti made from the flour.
"It was my compulsion to go to work leaving the children at home as we do not have any other source of income," said Tamang. Tamang's father-in-law, who is a miller, had brought pesticide tainted flour at home. She said that Santa Bahadur Tamang, her neighbor, had taken wheat laced with pesticide to the mill after his stock of grains ran out.
Bimala's children have been recuperating and out of danger, doctors at Manamohan Memorial Hospital, where the ailing people have been receiving treatment, said. But her mother-in-law and father-in-law are in critical condition.
According to Bimala, all the people who are ailing due to the consumption of poisonous bread belong to the family of daily wage earner.
"Only millet grows on our land. Maize and rice do not grow in our land," said Tamang. Inhabitants of her village, which is a hinterland, have to walk more than six hours to reach motorable road.
Every year government statistics show decline in poverty, but the hardships faced by the people of villages like Pida VDC reflects something else. "Poverty has definitely declined if we count the number of poor dying every year just like the six members of the poor family who died after eating pesticide tainted floor," Arjun Prasad Aryal, a political activist of Pida VDC, said in ironical tone.
The National Planning Commission (NPC) says that overall poverty reduced to 23 percent from 25.16 percent in 2011. "Different studies shows that overall poverty has declined faster in the country," said Swarnim Wagle, a member at the NPC. He, however, said that one in every four people still falls below the poverty line.
He said that the government has to bring the program to intervene in backward areas and boost the economic opportunities.
Meanwhile, the Manamohan Memorial Hospital said that the condition of the two victims admitted at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is still critical. Seven people have been receiving treatment at the hospital's ICU and others are admitted at HCU unit.
Prime Minister Sushil Koirala on Wednesday has expressed commitment to provide financial assistance to the victim's family. Receiving a memorandum submitted by a delegation led by Nepali Congress (NC) Dhading, PM Koirala said that it is government's responsibility to help the people who are in grief.
Related story
Poverty: A Multidimensional Problem, Nepalese Context
