The cold weather has affected the lives of people in the Terai region for the past three weeks due to thick fog and cold waves. Residents of poor settlements have been more affected as the sun has not shone since the monsoon.

Those who support their families by earning wages have started complaining that they have to go hungry, while others are also finding it difficult to do their regular work.

Ajveen Kumar from Bihar, India, has been working on the Jhapa section of the East-West Highway for two years. Until two months ago, he used to sweat profusely while working in the summer. Now, as the cold has started to set in, he is waiting for the summer season again. According to him, the sun has become rare after the onset of the monsoon. He said that when he goes to work in the morning, his hands become stiff and it is difficult to work. He was busy working on the highway on Monday too. ‘The sun’s rays have not reached the ground,’ he said, ‘It is getting colder.’

There is also no traffic on the highway like usual. He said that it is difficult to work from morning due to the cold. ‘Today, I came to work at 8:30,’ he said, ‘I cannot do without work.’ Even when working, my hands and feet cannot move due to the cold.' He said that he was late for work for an hour because he could not bear the cold.

Ganesh Rajbanshi of Ayabari, Mechinagar-7, is also suffering because he cannot work openly due to the cold. He said that his income has decreased by driving an e-rickshaw. He lamented that the cold wave that accompanies the fog has taken away his livelihood. 'In winter, people do not get jobs, they often have to run around empty, and they do not earn as much as they thought,' he said. 'When the sun was shining, they used to earn eight hundred to one thousand rupees in a day. Now, they do not even earn half the amount.'

When it is foggy, the highway is dark. You cannot see far. As a result, there is a risk of being hit by large vehicles coming from behind. ‘When it’s foggy, we can’t see the road well, let alone the big vehicles,’ he said. ‘Since the e-rickshaws are slow, I worry that they will hit us.’

Families who work all day and make ends meet in the evening do not have time to rest because it’s cold. They are forced to work even in the harsh cold due to the compulsion to go hungry on days when they don’t work. Laxman Tharu, 45, of Gularia-12 in Bardiya, said that they are forced to work even during the freezing winter. ‘This year is extremely cold, the freezing cold makes it difficult to move our hands and feet, it’s difficult to work in the winter, but what can we do? There is no other solution,’ he said. ‘I have the responsibility of supporting a family of four, it’s not enough to eat with my family, no matter how much I eat, I have to run to work every morning.’

He used to go to Himachal Pradesh, India, and Butwal and Chitwan to work as a laborer earlier, but this year he is earning a living by working as a wage laborer in the district due to the severe cold.

The cold that started with the onset of Poush has affected the lives of the people of Bardiya. Mangsir did not feel so cold due to the sun. However, the thick fog and cold wave with the onset of Poush have greatly affected the lives of the people.

Jay Yadav, the owner of New Bageshwori Gold and Silver Shop in Gulariya, said that there is less traffic in the market due to the cold. ‘Even when I wait in the shop all day, no customers come,’ he said. ‘I keep a fire in front of the shop all day and return home empty-handed in the evening.’

Radhe Lodh, an autorickshaw driver from Gulariya Municipality-9, said that he feels that the cold has taken away his livelihood. ‘Even when driving an auto around the market in the cold, I don’t get any passengers,’ he said. ‘I feel like I’ve lost my livelihood because I don’t have any income.’ Chief District Officer Gogan Bahadur Hamal said that the local municipality is distributing firewood and warm clothes as the winter progresses. ‘We haven’t received any complaints from the public yet about the cold,’ he said.

Mahendra Tharu, 50, of Bardaghat-6 in West Nawalparasi, does not own any land. He has built a hut on the concession given by his lender. He earns his living by working as a laborer and in his lender’s house. One of his children is disabled. Mahendra said that he cannot afford to eat in the morning or evening without working. The cold wave has been going on for 21 days. ‘I can’t go out of the house,’ he said. ‘I don’t even have warm clothes to wear.’ Still, we have to endure the cold and work.'

The situation of Raju Sahani of Yamunamai Rural Municipality-3 in Rautahat, who runs a household based on wage labor, is also appalling. This time, he is a wage laborer in an area where physical construction work is being carried out. He is forced to work even though he is shivering. 'Instead, we can work in the summer, but when the cold wave hits like rain, we cannot work with our hands tied,' he said. 'It is difficult to work without working, what will we eat, what will we earn?' It is difficult to see the sun.'

'There are no clothes to change in winter'
Pintu Gupta, 43, of Kapilvastu Municipality-3 Chowk Bazaar, has not changed his clothes for more than a month. The black pants and jacket he is wearing have moth-eaten stains on them. He said that he has not been able to wash them because he does not have clothes to change into. The neighbor, Kanchha Shrestha, had given him an old jacket to wear in the winter. He said that a man from the market had given him a pair of black jeans. ‘I don’t have another pair of clothes to wash and change. I don’t have money to buy new clothes,’ he said, ‘That’s why I’m spending my days like this.’ He said that he has been living in an open space for the last 21 days. It has been 7/8 years since his wife and children left him. He works as a watch repairer at the Hat Bazaar Chowk in Taulihawa and said that he has not been able to add to his inventory because he does not have money to invest. He said, ‘I have old watches. I exchange them for similar ones and repair them. Sometimes it is difficult to earn 60/70 rupees a day.’

The two or four paisas I earn are enough to cover my expenses. There is a problem of not having clothes to wear. ‘I have a bed given to me by my parents. I have been spending the night with a thin blanket on top of it,' he said. The blanket was also provided by the municipality last year. 'I have to spend the day and night in agony,' he said. 'Many people come to search. But I have not been able to find a helping hand.' He said that his parents have died. Two brothers are separated. They cannot work as wage laborers. He said that he has to live a painful life due to poverty.

Due to the cold wave and thick fog that has been going on for three weeks, children and the elderly have started falling ill in Rautahat. Around 100 children and the elderly have been coming to Chandrapur Government Hospital for treatment due to the weather. Dr. Abhinandan Srivastava, the head of Chandrapur Hospital, said that around 100 children and the elderly are coming for treatment every day. "Children with chest and lung problems have been coming in with asthma and pneumonia," he said. "It is appropriate to avoid the cold at this time."

Government and private hospitals in Gaur, Chandranigahapur, and Garuda in the district are overwhelmed with patients. Dumaria in Chandrapur-8, Musahar in Chetnagar in Chandrapur-9, Dom Basti in Harsaha in Brindavan Municipality, Ishanath, and Dalit settlements in Gaur Municipality are affected by the cold.

Children across the district have stopped coming to school. The local level has closed schools for three days after teaching and learning began to be affected. Chief District Officer Dinesh Sagar Bhusal said that the District Disaster Management Committee is distributing firewood and blankets at the chowk and market areas to prevent human casualties from the cold wave. He also informed that arrangements have been made to burn firewood in the chowk and market areas of all 18 municipalities in the district. 

On Monday afternoon, when the sun was shining brightly, 70-year-old Naina Devi of Aloun, Birgunj Metropolitan City-17, went out of her house to bask in the sun. ‘The sun that has been shining for three days is not strong enough to warm the body,’ she said. ‘The cold wave has caused a lot of trouble for the elderly like us this year.’

She said that the cold wave was not this long last year. ‘Last year, there was no cold wave for more than a week, the sun was shining every day,’ she said. ‘This year, it has been very bad. It has been bone-chilling cold for two weeks. Even if the sun is shining today, what will happen tomorrow?’

Her neighbor, 55-year-old Panadevi Ram, was drying straw in the sun on Monday. ‘Straw is everything for poor people like us,’ she said, ‘straw is everything for sleeping on the ground, covering ourselves at night, and heating our homes.’ Panadevi’s family, which includes 25 children, grandchildren, and grandchildren, suffers from the cold wave every year.

The situation of more than two dozen houses in this slum in Alau is similar. To survive the cold, the residents of the slum hope for firewood, blankets to cover their faces, and clean clothes from the government. But most of the slums are currently without government presence.

Even though firewood has been distributed to the squares of Birgunj on the initiative of the local administration, it is not enough. Puran Chandra Bhatta, Superintendent of Armed Police of Parsa, says that the Armed Police has arranged firewood to the extent of its capacity in the squares of Birgunj since the onset of the cold wave this year.

Due to the increasing cold in the western Terai, squatters and the poor communities are more affected. A cold wave has been going on in Kanchanpur since the first week of Poush. In the meantime, even though the sun has only been shining for one or two days, the sky has not cleared. ‘The problem has arisen because the cold wave has been going on for a longer period this year than last year,’ said Harendra Koli of Mahendranagar, ‘If the sun does not shine, we are worried about how we will work.’