Bhutanese refugees in crisis due to lockdown
By Our Reporter
The nationwide lockdown imposed by the government to curb the spread of the coronavirus in the country has put the Bhutani refugees of Pathari Shanishchare Municipality–10, Morang at risk of starvation.
The refugees used to be given food assistance by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Food Programme. But these organisations discontinued it from April 1, 2019.
After that, the refugees had been relying on the remittances sent by their relatives abroad and on the money they earned from occasional manual labour around the village, both of which have now dried up because of the lockdown.
Nara Bahadur Rai, 56, is one such refugee facing a financial crisis. Before the lockdown, his wife used to sell chatpate from a stand in front of their hut and his relatives living abroad used to send him some money. But now, the chatpate stand is closed and the remittances have stopped.
“We have seven members in our family. How will we feed them now without any income?” Rai shared his worries.
Lok Bahadur Bista, 30, is another refugee who used to support his three-member family through his daily-wage labour around the village. “But now, because we have no income, we are only eating one meal a day,” he said.
There are currently 1,650 refugees living in the Pathari Shanishchare refugee camp and all of them share the same story as Rai and Bista.
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