Liwang has an air of business-as-usual, and the scars of war are barely visible for a visitor who is here for only two days. When we arrive, the town tucked in the hills is bustling with activities. About a hundred spectator are enthusiastically watching a football match between local teams, school children in different school uniforms are going back home, computer institutions offer modern IT services and classes, while a photography shop gives you passport photos in few minutes at a price cheaper than Kathmandu’s.
There is even a Digital SLR, the Nikon D40, on sale. Shops, several of them in what seems like fairly new buildings, are packed with new goods and sacks of staple diets potatoes are stacked near crates of bottled sodas. But perhaps most telling of the socio-economic situation in the district is the local PCO service: from there, locals can make cheap phone calls over the internet to not only the regular suspects in the mid-east, but to countries as unexpected as Columbia, Monaco and Finland. During the conflict years too, villages in the district were void of men. And communication to foreign countries even as far as India was not always easy. Today, Rolpa residents live and work in more than 25 countries around the world, many of which sound exotic even to Kathmandu residents, and from a communication service center in Liwang you can connect to them all. Then there are money transfers.
The presence of focal persons for different development agencies that work in the neighboring VDCs is quite visible. The local government bodies seem impressed with their work and keep an open mind about working with these agencies side by side. If one was to take a survey on what residents in the far and the mid west regions of Nepal wanted the most, ‘roads’ would probably make it in the top three. In Rolpa, the roads are coming.
As we make our way to Sulichaur, we walk past road construction sites where men and women work together. The scene is not very different from images of this very activity published in the media during the conflict years. When this 45-kilometer road is ready, Sulichour will be connected to Thawang. Here too the locals seem enthused about NGO and INGO presence, but one cannot help wonder if this takes away from the credibility of the state organs.
Along the road that exists, locals have planted Jatropha, locally known as Sajiwan or Kadam. Traditionally in Nepal, the plant is used as a sturdy fence. However, its fruit is also a potent source of bio-diesel and several countries, most notably India, has been working to develop this. In Nepal, it was the Maoist led government that set aside Rs. 50 million in the budget (2008/09), more than what the country’s Alternative Energy Promotion Center had asked for, to begin Jatropha based pilot projects in the country.
Back at the construction site, people who are working in the road development get cash and food according to the amount of the work they have done. But they worry about what happens when the road is built. Several of them express little faith in the government being able to provide job opportunities in the region in the next few years. For now, they are grateful to be employed and have food to eat.