The cold wave that has been sweeping across the Tarai region for the past week has affected normal life from the east to the west. The growing cold has affected the poor, children, and the elderly.

After going about 6 kilometers southeast from the East-West Highway, one comes to Chandrapur-9 Chetnagar village in Rautahat. There is a small hut at the end of the village. Inside that hut, 60-year-old Devratiya Devi Majhi (Musaharni) was sleeping on a straw mat. She had spread straw/sacks on the floor. She could not get up until 11 am on Sunday due to the cold. She has three sons. The eldest is Bhagirat, the younger is Ramkrishna, and the youngest is Jagarit Musahar. They have left their mother and gone elsewhere.

Devratiya is like a helpless neighbor, said Bir Bahadur Shrestha. ‘There is a cold wave. There is nothing to cover in the winter,’ he said, ‘She spends the night wearing a straw mat. It is a disaster.’ Devratiya’s husband Lalgovinda Musahar had died 10 years ago. Not only him, but most of the Musahars of Chetnagar are finding life difficult due to the increasing cold. The elderly and children of the settlement are affected.

The increasing cold and cold wave have affected the districts of Madhesh including Rautahat for the past two days. The cold wave has affected the poor settlements as well as the pregnant women, the elderly, and the poor families the most. As the cold has increased, most of the residents are burning dhunis in the villages to keep warm. There is little movement of people in the markets and other areas. The cold has hit Dalit settlements in areas such as Dumaria, Chetnagar, Santapur in Rautahat, Jugaulia, Kataharia, Ishanath, Gaur, Samanpur and others more.

Similarly, due to the increasing cold and cold wave, the Birgunj Metropolitan City has decided to close schools for 5 days. The metropolis issued a notice on Monday stating that teaching and learning has been suspended from 7 to 11 Pus.

Similarly, there has been no sunshine in Bardiya due to thick fog for a week. The cold weather has made life difficult for the poor family who earn their living by working as daily wage labourers. The family of Babulal Dhobi of Tapara, Gulariya Municipality-8, is suffering from the cold. The family, who earn their living by washing clothes, is facing a shortage of ration water due to lack of income. Babulal used to push a cart from village to village and iron clothes to earn food for the evening and morning. He said that he has been forced to stay at home due to the cold for a few days. 

Prema Dhobi of Gulariya-8 is also suffering like Babulal. ‘We don’t have the skills to do other work,’ she said. ‘On days when we don’t get work to wash clothes, there is no ration at home.’ Her husband, two sons and a daughter are with her. Koili Lodh, 62, of Gulariya-8, who has resorted to fire as the cold weather has worsened, said. ‘We don’t have money to buy thick and warm clothes,’ she said. ‘We can’t even buy wood/firewood. To survive the cold, I burn leaves and twigs to make a fire.’ 

Mukunda Aryal, Senior Administrative Officer of Gulariya Municipality, said that information is being disseminated on how to protect oneself from the cold. He informed that in the first phase, preparations are being made to distribute firewood at every corner. As the cold weather increases, all 8 municipalities in the district have been given a circular to distribute firewood, said Bardiya Chief District Officer Gogan Bahadur Hamal.

As the cold weather increases in Banke, a 'cold wave emergency plan' has been implemented. Chief District Officer Dil Kumar Tamang informed that such a plan has been implemented to protect the general public from the cold wave. He said that it has been decided to identify vulnerable families, senior citizens, children, pregnant women, and new mothers who may be at risk and help them. It is estimated that 180,000 general public may be affected by the cold wave in Banke this year. 

Rupan Gyawali, Information Officer of the District Disaster Management Committee, said that rural residents will be affected the most than urban residents. According to the forecast, 8,524 families in Nepalgunj, 4,138 in Kohalpur Municipality, 3,193 in Khajura Rural Municipality, and 3,889 in Janaki Rural Municipality will be affected by the cold wave. The cold wave has made life difficult in Kapilvastu and has affected the daily lives of the general public. There has been no sunshine since Friday. The cold wave has increased to the point of freezing. The general public is forced to stay indoors due to the cold wave. The presence of service recipients in government offices has thinned out. There has also been less movement. The general public is finding relief by warming themselves by fires in the squares. On Sunday, the minimum temperature in Kapilvastu was 11 degrees Celsius and the maximum temperature was 14 degrees Celsius, said Ramu Regmi of the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology unit in Ramnagar. 

Air service affected 

Air service has been affected in the Terai districts after the thick fog began to fall for a week. Due to the bad weather, regular flights/landings have not been possible at Gautam Buddha International Airport in Bhairahawa. There is low visibility in the morning. The aircraft will land only if there is some improvement in the afternoon, said the airport's information officer, Binod Singh Rawat.

Due to the bad weather, flights from the Nepalgunj airport in Banke to the hilly districts have been affected. More than 25 flights are operated from Nepalgunj daily to Jumla, Humla, Dolpa, Mugu, Bajura and Bajhang as well as Kathmandu and Pokhara. Cold weather has affected normal life in Kailali and Kanchanpur in the far west and air traffic has been disrupted. Morning flights from Dhangadhi Airport have been affected. All flights were canceled on Friday.