JHAPA, Feb 8 : Thirty seven year old Pakali Rajbanshi of Garmani, Jhapa claims to have starved for several days in the last few months. Neither could she feed her children well. Her income source had dried up because of the Madhes agitation due to which factories and industries were not operating. This gridlock had robbed of her job, which entails to work in various construction sites.
Rajbanshi toiled hard for job, but to no avail. The only wish she had was the end of the agitation so that she could get back to work. Recently, Birgunj border was opened after four months of disturbance indicating an end of the Indian economic blockade on Nepal. However, miseries of Rajbashi are taking time to fade. She has not been called back to work as most of the development contractors are yet to get into form. Though the border has opened, fuel supply is not normal and this had directly affected the resumption of factories and industries.
Rajbanshi represents thousands of labors in the Tarai region who solely depend on daily wage for their living. For the people who struggled hard to keep themselves and their families alive during the past few months, getting going is even challenging now.
“I do not know how long this will go and how, without work, will be able to earn for feeding ourselves?” questioned Rajbanshi, whose husband Shivalal, has also been jobless due to the agitation. “We both are out of job and forced to sit idle and starve, as we have nothing to eat at home,” she added.
Shivalal used to work in one of government’s development projects. But like most of the contractors in the region, his contractor has also stated that labors cannot resume working for the project immediately due to lack of fuel. According to reports, construction cost is going to increase by at least 50 percent. Revision on the overall cost estimation and resumption of these stalled development activities is going to take time, and this has added to worries of the labors.
“We were working in the company for the last 10 years. Following the blockade, we became jobless and things are not going to improve anytime soon, they say. Is it so?” Shivalal asked expressing the confusion he and others like him are living in. He added that the labors like him were told that the work was halted due to the lack of construction materials and fuel. “If we ring up the contractor he only says that there’s no work now. There’s no money to buy food, to pay for children’s fees, what should we do?,” he lamented.
Shivalal said that all construction activities in Jhapa had stopped since last three months and none have resumed so far. Birbahadur Khatri of Duhagadhi, Jhapa echoes Shivalal’s concerns. “Earlier there’d be so much workload that we’d hardly get time to breathe; now there’s just no work. No work for months now and it’s the same through out Jhapa,” he said. “I don’t know till when will have to live in scarcity. There’s guarantee of nothing in this country!”
It is estimated that over 50,000 people in Jhapa work in the construction industry. The agitation has affected these all. “Laborers are starving. No meal is cooked in their kitchen as they don’t have means to earn for buying food,” commented Dipendra Pokhrel, president of Builders’ Association, Jhapa. “Things cannot go worse than this. All construction activities have come to stand still,” he added.
He informed that there are around 400 builders groups in Jhapa and the fuel crisis has not spared anyone. “In earlier blockade, the government had made arrangements for the people to buy oil and salt. Inflation was in control. The effect was not as much worse as it is this time around,” he said further accusing the government of adding to the people’s woes.
Pokhrel informed that the agreement for development works worth Rs 2 billion for current fiscal year had been signed but only a few of them had been implemented. “Construction projects that were implemented have also come to halt due the blockade,” Pokhrel said adding that the government needs to seriously review the situation and do the needful to prevent further crisis in the construction industry. According to him, even major projects like construction of permanent bridges and important roads have been disturbed by the blockade.
Informing that only around 25 percent development projects are running in Jhapa, he claimed that the government’s inefficiency has endangered the job of 50,000 people and investment of over Rs 2 billion.
Ratna Kumari Khatiwada, a builder from Damak, warned that the present crisis will have long term impact in the construction field. “If the government does not take bold step for addressing the concerns of builders and laborers, their condition will certainly aggravate in the days ahead. This will consequently delay construction of several important constructions works,” she said.
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