Abutalim Miya of Jhapa, Rajgadh-4, a conflict victim, is living with the two bullet shrapnel in his body for seven years due to his the poor financial condition.[break]
The then Maoist rebel had taken Miya hostage on the charge of spying for the government. Luckily, Maya survived gun shot at that time but two shrapnel-one at the back of the head and the other just below the ear-- remain embedded in his head.
Miya has been going from pillars to the post asking for help to take the shrapnel out from his body but to no avail. He becomes sad at the news of other conflict victim receiving compensation. “Person who received minor baton wound in the conflict era from Maoists are receiving compensation, but victim like me has been denied compensation so far,” said Miya.
Miya, who is the sole bread earner of the family, said that he has been facing difficulty in his day to day job as the aching due to the shrapnel has increased lately. He is living with the hope of the compensation from the government for better treatment. “I do not have any place left to visit to seek help. I still have to pay Rs 300,000 loan incurred during my treatment,” said Miya.
However, Local Pace Committee (LPC)Jhapa has different version of story to tell. According the Jhapa LPC, the compensation has been provided only to that family of dead or disappeared people in the conflict era but the other conflict victims are yet to be provided compensation due to the budget crunch. The families of 168 dead and 14 who went missing have received compensation amount between Rs 300,000 to 800,000 so far.
“We have not received budget for the compensation for the people who were disabled or injured in the conflict,” said Kumar Phuyal of LPC Jhapa. He also said there were over 100 people like Miya awaiting compensation.
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