Soon after the Maoist politburo leader introduced himself to the new monitors at the camp, the latter fired a volley of complaints about the wretched conditions under which they have been monitoring the Maoist arms and army for over a month since the withdrawal of UNMIN on January 16. [break]
"We have no fuel for the generators, no vehicles, no cooking utensils…,” complained Police Inspector Arjun Ranabhat, one of eight monitors deputed to the cantonment.
The arms monitors at the cantonment -- comprising two members each from the Nepal Army, Nepal Police, Armed Police Force and PLA -- have been in a very pathetic situation after UNMIN´s remaining monitors left on February 16. The new monitors used to share vehicles and cooking utensils with UNMIN monitors until last Saturday, when the UN mission withdrew its remaining monitors and support staff.
"We used to eat with UNIMIN staff till Saturday. Today, the [army] colonel´s bodyguard did the cooking," said Vice-commander Khageshwor Sharma “Mukti”, adding that UNMIN staffs took their cooking utensils and vehicles with them.
Officials at the secretariat under the Special Committee say that monitors in other cantonments have also been working under similar conditions.
According to APF DSP Khem Thapa, another monitor, they do not have money to buy fuel for the generators and they can run them for only one and half hours a day.
"We have been told them that the generators will break down if they are not run for a minimum of one and half hours daily," Thapa said, "We phoned Kathmandu about our problems but our concerns have gone unanswered."
Until Sunday, the Special Committee had not sent any budget for monitoring work in the cantonments. But the Special Committee sent some money on Monday for carrying out day-to-day activities related to arms and army monitoring, according to Bala Nanda Sharma, convener of the Special Committee secretariat.
As UNMIN withdrew their vehicles, they face a problem of drinking water as well.
"We do not have a vehicle to fetch drinking water," said Ranabhat.
The nearest drinking water source for the cantonment is about two kilometers away. UNMIN used to pump out drinking water at the source and bring it to the cantonment in its vehicles.
Despite the hardships, the monitors are living like a family though they were foes during the conflict.
Lieutenant Colonel Chandra Prakash Rajbanshi, AFP SP Bharat Paneru and PLA Brigade Commander Dependra Bahadur Shahi “Yuganta” share one room.
Similarly, DSPs Deelip Deuba and Thapa, Inspector Ranabhat, Army Major Anil KC and Brigade Vice-commander Khagehwor Sharma “Mukti” live in another room.
Sharma said that staying together with the army and police officials has been a good opportunity for understanding each other.
“We have been eating and living together. It has been a good opportunity to practice integration, forget past animosity and heal the wounds of war,” said Thapa.
According to Sharma, they talk contemporary politics and share war-time experiences. But army officials Rajbansi and KC do not join in such talk, saying it is not good to reopen past wounds.
KC was the first from the secretariat to visit the cantonment since the PLA came under the Special Committee on January 21. KC, after hearing the complaints, promised to communicate them to the Special Committee secretariat. KC, before leaving the cantonment, gave word to address the problems immediately.
"I´ll raise these problems at the meeting of the secretariat after I return to Kathmandu,” KC told the monitors.
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