BARUN PANERU
DADELDHURA, Aug 15: He was taken from his home in Bagarkot-5 on charge of espionage and left for dead after being shot in the waist by the Maoists following 11 days of detention during the armed insurgency.
Bam Bahadur Thapa fortunately survived to fight another day, but the second life has not been exactly kind to the wheelchair bound conflict victim who has lost all his property in treatment. Neglected by the state, Thapa now struggles to make ends meet with the sole income of his wife Shanta who works as a peon.
Thapa was abducted on June 13, 2004, from his home on charge of spying for the army. “They detained me for 11 days and left me for dead in a jungle after shooting me in the waist,” Thapa recalls.
He was first taken to Dadeldhura by Nepal Red Cross Society on the initiative of locals who found him at the jungle. He remained at the TEAM Hospital in Dadeldhura for seven days and then taken to Nepalgunj and Kathmandu for further treatment. He has since been limited to a wheelchair with paralysis from waist down.
He has made the rounds of everywhere from the local bodies to the ministries, but has not received a penny in help. He has spent all his property in his treatment and now asks everybody who comes to meet him for help. “We are facing difficulty in even making our living. We have been hit hard after the breadwinner was disabled,” his wife Shanta complains.
He has left his ancestral home in Bagarkot-5 and set up his abode in a land given by a local community forest near the district headquarters of Dadeldhura after the incident. He still has to visit TEAM Hospital every third day for treatment. “The Maoists even led the government but they didn´t even provide general assistance,” he rues.
The Informal Service Sector Center (Insec) says there are around two dozens of conflict victims living in misery like Thapa in Dadeldhura.
Source: Republica – 15.08.2010