Nepal's Shuklaphanta Displaced Still Await Resettlement After 25 Years

Krishna Singh Bista, 56, braces for another monsoon in a makeshift shelter, his meager belongings soaked by rainwater seeping through a plastic roof. He hasn't slept soundly in six months, sharing his space with the fear of snakes and the constant dampness.

"There are days when we go to bed hungry because the firewood is too wet to light," Bista said. "On one side, there’s the fear of snakes. On the other hand, rainwater pours through the roof. Everything gets soaked. You can’t even sleep."

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There are days when we go to bed hungry because the firewood is too wet to light. On one side, there’s the fear of snakes. On the other hand, rainwater pours through the roof. Everything gets soaked. You can’t even sleep.

Bista is one of hundreds of families displaced more than two decades ago when the Shuklaphanta Wildlife Reserve, now a national park, expanded its boundaries. Twenty-five years later, they are still waiting for the government to fulfill its resettlement promises.

His father died waiting for resettlement, and now Bista, too, has grown old in displacement. "Soon it will be my sons’ turn. Three generations of our family have lived in displacement, but every government has ignored us," he lamented.

Similar conditions plague other displaced residents. Dura Devi Mahara, from Tarapur village, also lives under a tarp, struggling with leaks and the threat of snakes. Daily wage labor, their only source of income, halts during the rains, leaving them without food or means to cook.

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My father died waiting to be resettled. Now I have grown old waiting too. Soon it will be my sons’ turn. Three generations of our family have lived in displacement, but every government has ignored us.

"When it rains, water comes in from every direction," Mahara said. "If I try to protect the pillow, my feet get wet. If I cover my feet, water drips onto my head. Sometimes snakes crawl into the shelter too. How are we supposed to live like this?"

Dilram Dagaura, displaced from Bhatpuri, echoes the sentiment of decades of unheeded demands. He once owned farmland sufficient to feed his family of nine, but now they survive through sharecropping while he remains at the protest camp, hoping for a resolution.

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When it rains, water comes in from every direction. If I try to protect the pillow, my feet get wet. If I cover my feet, water drips onto my head. Sometimes snakes crawl into the shelter too. How are we supposed to live like this?

"For 25 years we’ve demanded resettlement," Dagaura said. "Nobody has listened, and I don’t think anyone is listening now."

More than 300 displaced people have erected temporary shelters on government land, enduring harsh conditions since mid-January. They continue their protest, driven by a fading hope that their plight will finally be addressed.

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For 25 years we’ve demanded resettlement. Nobody has listened, and I don’t think anyone is listening now.