But he is yet to get any compensation from the government. Adhikari and many other insurgency victims related their sad tales to the British Minister of State for International Development, Alan Duncan, who is on a Nepal visit and met people of Uttar Ganga, Surkhet, in his first tour outside the valley. [break]
“The Maoists shot my husband dead and I am living in misery now,” said Mahindra Bharati of Birendranagar, who could not hold back her tears and left the minister and others accompanying him with misty eyes. Most of the victims told the minister that the real sufferers have yet to receive relief package despite significant contributions from many like the British government.
A majority of the victims were women who lost their husbands during the conflict and those displaced by Maoists. “We urge the British government to bring programs that would help women and children,” said a Mid Western Region member of the Single Women´s Group Ram Kumari Thapa. She complained that the problems of conflict hit women and children have not been addressed so far.
Minister Duncan said the British government has reached the conflict affected Nepali people through assistance in education, health and drinking water, and pledged to continue support for another four years.
But he also urged the Nepali government and people to take initiative in resolving the problems saying, if they don´t, the problems wouldn´t be solved even by doubling the grant amount. Duncan on a visit to inspect programs run with the assistance from British Department for International Development toured Surkhet on Tuesday and Wednesday and interacted with locals who left him emotional and struggling for words on several occasions.
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