Every day, about 400 Nepalis cross the border from Kailali's Gaurifanta border crossing and 150 from Kanchanpur's Gaddachauki border crossing towards India.
What you should know
The election has brought excitement to the cities and villages, with candidates campaigning door-to-door to woo voters. But ahead of the election, there are queues at the border crossings for people entering India to find work.
Sushil Chaudhary of Bardiya Geruwa Rural Municipality was met at the Gaddachauki checkpoint in Kanchanpur. There were 6 youths in his group. They were going to Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, India. ‘I wanted to go to vote, but all my friends started going,’ Sushil said, ‘If you don’t reach India at this time, there will be a problem of not getting work.’
Their group, who had been working on bridge construction in Mandi, had returned home in the third week of Poush to celebrate Maghi festival. ‘Maghi has been over for a long time, now I am more worried about my earnings than about the elections,’ he said. He said that due to their weak financial condition, they are forced to go to India every year to find employment.
Subhash Chaudhary, 26, of the same group says, ‘There are more than 150 people from Dhukaniya and Shantipur in our ward in Mandi, we are the only ones who came home during Maghi.’ He said that if they were to stay at home, they would be unemployed, but if they go to India, they would get a daily wage of 5 to 700 rupees. ‘We will not come for the elections, now we will return home only when paddy is sown,’ said Subhash.
Sohanlal Chaudhary of Bardiya Geruwa-4 says that despite wanting to vote during the elections, he was forced to go to India. ‘The leaders are not well, they have not done anything so far,’ he said, ‘If they had found employment in their own country, they would not have had to enter the Gulf and India.’ He said that despite having to work abroad and enduring a lot of reprimands, they had to go to earn money for their home.
The Armed Police at the border posts of Kailali and Kanchanpur keep a record of the workers who go to India for employment. According to the Armed Police check post at the Gaddachauki border post, up to 160 Nepalis have gone to various cities in India every day in search of work in the last week alone. Most of them have gone to cities in Delhi, Punjab, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Himachal and Uttarakhand. Most of them have gone for work for a few months.
The number of people entering India through the Trinagar checkpoint in Kailali in search of employment is higher than that at Gaddachauki. According to the Armed Police Check Post in Trinagar, 3-400 Nepalis are entering India through the Gaurifanta checkpoint daily in search of work.
The number of young people going to India in search of work is increasing, said Deepa Bista, a consultant at the Peace Rehabilitation Home near the Gaurifanta checkpoint. ‘When asked, they say they work there, some say they were called by relatives, many young people go to big cities in India,’ she said.
