On the dwindling numbers, Pantha said many refugees left the district for Kathmandu, Pokhara and abroad including the US and they never bothered to renew their ID cards nor did the authorities make any attempt to track the refugees. Also the DAO has no information on the refugee children as it had not issued ID cards to children in 1995 and it does not know how many children have been born to refugee parents.[break]
"The numbers refugees seeking renewel of their identity cards is decreasing lately," said Pantha, adding, "Now there is no provision of issuing identity cards to the refugees and it is difficult to keep track of the refugees leaving the district as they don´t inform the authorities."
Mema Tshering, who was living in Norjeling refugee camp, said she now lives in India and she hasn´t renewed her ID card.
"There is no record of the children born to the refugee parents because they do not come for registering the births," said Bobang VDC secretary Lok Bahadur Kunwar. He also said that there is no authentic data on the refugees in the camp as the VDC cannot issue identity cards to new refugees or the children of the refugees born inside the camp.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA), currently refugee camps are located in Taplejung, Sankhuwasaba, Solukhumbu, Dolakha, Sindhupalchowk, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Kathmandu, Rasuwa, Gorkha, Kaski, Tanahun, Manang, Mustang, Nawalparasi, Dolpa, Jumla, Humla and Darchula. Tibetan refugees who entered the country before 1989 were issued refugee ID cards and their number was around 20,000.
Spokesperson at the Ministry of Home Affairs Shanknar Koirala was hesitant to speak regarding the issue. He informed that there is no provision to issue new identity cards to Tibetan refugees. "New identity cards have not been issued for a long time now. Refugees are being treated humanly," said Koirala.
Tibetan refugees started entering Nepal after Tibet uprising in 1959.
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