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When the Kamaiya system, traditional slavery, was in practice in Western Nepal, Kamaiyas and Kamlaris—male and female bonded labors respectively—used to get a day off from work only on Maghi, a mid-winter festival celebrated on the first day of the month of Magh of Hindu calendar. It was during the festival that the indentured laborers were exchanged.

On 17 July 2000, the government announced the abolition of slavery in five districts, freeing the former Kamaiyas and Kamlaris. However, the rehabilitation of the former bonded laborers remains incomplete 21 years hence.

“The rehabilitation is unfinished as the announcement was made in haste,” says Shanta Chaudary, a former bonded laborer who is now in the House of Representatives. She says the task will remain incomplete so long as their problems related to poverty and land are not resolved. The remaining tasks of rehabilitation, which now have been entrusted to the local level, seems to have been put on the back burner. The freed Kamaiyas and Kamlaris are demanding the federal government take up the onus.

Chairman of Freed Kamaiya Society (Mukta Kamaiya Society) Pashupati Chaudhary blames the handover of the responsibility to the local government without authority for the failure in reintegration. “The federal government passed on this task to the local government in 2018. But the budget for rehabilitation was released much later,” he says. “Then, the land revenue and land reform offices, which were overseeing rehabilitation, refused to provide data, leading to the freezing of the budget.” 

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The Kamaiyas had to work for landlords without pay. Young folks from poor families were forced to become bonded laborers to a lender when their families failed to repay their loans on time. After becoming bonded, they would get clothes and food for their survival. People from Thaur ethnic groups used to become Kamaiya. This bonded servitude system is against the universal declaration of human rights, among other international conventions and treaties, to which Nepal is a party. It has also been banned by Nepal’s constitution. But the free Kamaiyas are still living a life of struggle on riverbanks, landless squatters’ settlements, and nearby forests.

The system was in practice in Kanchanpur, Kailali, Bardiya, Banke and Dang districts. According to government estimates, around 27,570 families of free Kamaiyas need to be rehabilitated.

The Kamaiya Labor (Prohibition) Act (2002) and related Regulations were enacted in 2011. A commission was formed on 1 January 2009 to resolve the rehabilitation of freed Kamaiyas. The freed Kamaiyas were classified into four categories and issued ID cards as a part of the rehabilitation plan. But this process is yet to be completed.

Similarly, the unmarried women of Tharu ethnic group, especially the daughters of Kamaiya family, in western Tarai, were compelled to become Kamlaris. To end this system of lifelong servitude of women, Kamlari Struggle Committee staged a protest demanding elimination of the abominable practice. The government and the struggle reached a 10-point agreement on 28 May 2013. Then on June 27 the same year, the government announced the abolition of Kamalari practice. The Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare had then presented the details of 9,490 freed Kamlaris. The government later distributed 11,000 identity cards to the freed Kamlaries.

The Ministry of Land Reforms has now constituted a five-member study team. The committee has been tasked with furnishing details of the progress in rehabilitation, the issues addressed so far, and number and condition of rehabilitated families.

Only 16.10 percent work has been completed in the construction of Kathmandu-Tarai/Madhesh Expressway (fast track) due to the lack of funds and disputes over land acquisition, project officials say.

The government handed over the project to the Nepali Army in 2017, and gave it the DPR in 2019, with a mandate to complete all work in four years. However, with half of the allotted time now gone, progress has been slow.

“We are doing our best with the limited resources at our disposal,” says Lieutenant Col Biswa Bandhu Pahadi, who is overseeing construction work. Although the 72.5-km road, which is to be constructed as per the Asian Highway Standard, has been classified as a project of national pride, the government hasn’t provided sufficient funds for its construction. The army had sought a budget of Rs 30 billion for the project for the current fiscal year. But the government only gave it Rs 8 billion, in what is a Rs 175-billion project.

This road, which starts in Khokana, Lalitpur, traverses Kathmandu and Makwanpur to head to Nijgadh, Bara on the East-West Highway. Following its completion, travel time between Nijgadh and Kathmandu will be reduced to an hour.

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Khokana has been the scene of massive protests over the past few years as residents are against the construction of the expressway through a place of archaeological and historical importance. This has halted work on the 'Zero Point' of this road. Although there has been 92 percent progress—most of it outside Khokana—in land acquisition so far, delays in the acquisition of the required land in the Khokana-Bungamati area has hampered progress.

There are three tunnels on the expressway. Contract for the 3.355 km long Mahadev Danda tunnel has been awarded to China State Construction Engineering Company Limited, while the 1.630 km Dhedre-Lendanda tunnel went to the Chinese Polychagnda Engineering Company. The army plans to issue the contract for the remaining tunnel soon.

Lt Col Pahadi hopes the project will soon gather pace and the government deadline to complete the work will be met.