KATHMANDU, May 3: Tragedy has dogged Situ Joshi Ghimire in recent years. She lost her husband in the infamous Bandarmude landmine blast in Chitwan district in 2005, her son went insane because of the resulting trauma and she herself was injured in a bomb blast in Kathmandu in 2007. [break]
A saddened Situ is now struggling to get compensation for her husband´s death on 5 June 2005 from the landmine planted by the Maoists.
“I approached the authorities concerned in Chitwan and Kathmandu. But they say my husband´s death is not recorded,” says Situ, 33.
Her husband Hemlal Ghimire, a temporary resident of Sainbu Village Development Committee (VDC) ward no. 4 in Lalitpur district, had gone to Chitwan along with their 11-year-old son Umesh to attend the marriage ceremony of a friend. On that fateful day they were returning home by bus.
“Since the bus was overcrowded, my son was sitting at the front while his father was at the back,” a soft-spoken Situ said.
When the bus hit the Maoist landmine, the explosion ripped it apart. Umesh was lucky to survive. “My son found his father´s severed hand. He recognized it from the wrist watch which he liked so much. But he couldn´t see the rest of his father´s body,” Situ said, adding, “I learnt that my husband was killed in the blast only when some policemen brought my son to our house that evening.”
Despite her attempts, she could not retrieve her husband´s body. “I performed his last rites at home according to Hindu tradition,” she said.
Immediately after the last rites for her husband, her son Umesh lost his mental balance. She had to take him to Patan Mental Hospital where they started him on medication.
“Although Umesh got better after about a year, he is still taking the medicine,” she said.
Once Umesh started feeling better, Situ resumed her struggle to secure compensation for her husband´s death.
And then in yet another blow, she was caught in the horrendous bomb explosion at Tripureshwar in Kathmandu on 2 September 2007, in which two people were killed.
“Luckily, I received only minor injuries in the leg,” Situ said.
Financially squeezed, she sold her house at Sainbu. “I have run out of money for my son´s treatment and for daily expenses,” she said.
Uddav Poudel, an administrative officer at Lalitpur District Administration Office, where Situ has filed an application for compensation, said, “Situ has to get a formal record from Chitwan of her husband´s death”.
Poudel said Lalitpur District Administration can´t recommend compensation for Situ without proof of her husband´s death at Bandarmude.
Although she visited the Chitwan District Administration office also, she had to return empty-handed. “They say my husband´s death is not recorded in their documents. It´s their fault. Villagers in Bandarmude claim to have seen parts of some unidentified bodies during the explosion,” she said.
Situ is placing little hope in the assurances of locals in Bandarmude. “They have told me they will tell the district administration office that my husband was in the bus which ran over the landmine because they know he was returning home from a marriage ceremony in a nearby village,” Situ, clad in a white saree, said.
ghanashyam@myrepublica.com
