People’s representatives in Bajura have forgotten commitments they made before their electorate so much so that many of them don’t even remember their election manifesto.
Nimendra Shahi, Center for Investigative Journalism-Nepal
During the 2017 local elections, the Nepali Congress won six of the nine local levels in Bajura and the erstwhile UML won three. During the election, candidates from both the parties promised their electorate that they will build a 50-bed hospital, provide compulsory skill-based training and employment, free education up to secondary level and develop a hydropower project to light up the village.
Taking a patient to Kolti Primary Health Center.
However, the people’s representatives who have completed more than half of their term have forgotten about the promises they made. “I don’t have the manifesto, maybe friends from the secretariat have it!” said Deepak Shah, mayor of Bajura’s Budhiganga municipality.
Meanwhile, Padam Giri, mayor of Budhinanda municipality, said that he does not have a copy of his election manifesto even though his friends had published it as it was needed during the election. “Once a person is elected, the manifesto is not really needed. If we keep the manifesto people will complain that the promises made were not kept,” he said.
False promises
Budhiganga Municipality Mayor Deepak Shah had promised to set up a 50-bed hospital in the municipality, establish health posts in each ward and provide insurance cover for expecting mothers. So far, however, none of these commitments have been fulfilled. In Budhiganga municipality, candidates from the Nepali Congress won both the mayor and the deputy mayor positions. Shah said, “Because a majority of members in the municipality are from the NCP, we face obstacles when we try to do good things. So the promises we made during the elections have not been implemented.” Bharat Bahadur Thapa, who was elected chairman of Budhiganga-9, said, “ The manifesto couldn’t be implemented as the municipal council couldn’t be convened on time, and the opposition didn’t allow coordination among representatives.”
During the election, the 50-bed hospital was the go-to promise for the candidates. Nara Bahadur Rawat, a candidate for Khaptad Chhededaha Rural Municipality, had also promised to set up a 50-bed hospital in the rural municipality. He said, “I understand now that there is no need for such a big hospital in the village.”
The federal government laid the foundation stone to 309 local hospitals across the country on December 30. Under the first phase, the Ministry of Health and Population has started work on hospitals with five to 15 beds in 309 of the 396 local levels selected. The federal government’s programme has become an excuse for local representatives such as Rawat to not fulfill promises made during their election campaign.
Given leaky roofs, important documents need to be protected with an umbrella in a healthcare center in Budhiganga Municipality.
According to the 2011 census, the average life expectancy of Nepalis is 69.2 years. But the number for Bajura is only 59.5 years. According to the District Health Office, Bajura, six mothers have lost their lives during childbirth this fiscal year while five have died while giving birth outside health facilities. The infant mortality rate in Bajura stands at 72.85 (per thousand). According to health workers, the figures highlight that all villages need a birthing center with facilities to conduct at least one caesarean section. However, the facility is only available at the district hospital. But local leaders have ignored the need for such a hospital.
Swamikartik Rural Municpality chief Chiranjeevi Shahi and Gaumul Rural Municipality chief Hari Bahadur Rokaya wrote in their manifesto that a hospital would be established in their respective areas: “Construction of a hospital with a minimum of 25 beds in the village will start from the first year,” they had said. However, they have forgotten about their commitment.
Although the Swamikartik municipality laid the foundation stone to a 15-bed hospital under the federal government’s programme, the Gaumul municipality could not even lay the foundation stone to the hospital being built by the federal government. Hari Bahadur Rokaya, chief of the village municipality says that the foundation stone could not be laid due to lack of preparation for the hospital to be built in Dahakot. Similarly, Triveni Municipality of Bajura could not lay the foundation stone due to a dispute.
Bajura now has a hospital, a primary health centre and 26 health posts. These health institutions haven’t been able to provide basic health services continuously due to lack of skilled health workers, lab equipment and medicines. The people’s representatives’ promise that existing institutions would be upgraded and new ones built in places where they do not exist has not been implemented in the three years they have been in office.
Backhoe loaders do all the work
Candidates contesting the local elections had campaigned for job creation. Employment was also one of the major issues raised to attract voters in a society affected by unemployment. However, the rural municipalities did not introduce any creation programme. Instead, the use of back-hoe loaders in development works has made it difficult for families to earn a living. A large budget of the local government has been spent on “raising” back-hoe loaders. “Locals have spent money on backhoe loaders to build roads in the village. The general public then has no choice but to go to India in search of work,”said Anil Shahi, a civil society leader.
It is not new that people in Bajura flee to India to make their ends meet. “Many young people have gone abroad because they did not find work at home. Most of them have gone to India for daily wage work,”said Lal Bahadur Shahi of Swamikartik Khapar Rural Municipality-5. “Nowadays, it is difficult to get people to go funerals and wedding processions. Suresh BK of Ward No.1 says that it is difficult to find a person to give company to people mourning the death of their loved ones.
A local transporting goods from Kolti in the absence of motorable road.
Recently, a group of 100 youths from Fayalgaon of Swamikartik Khapar left for India on the same day. Bal Budha of Fayalgaun said people are going to India in groups of 10-15 people from different villages.
According to the District Food Security Network, the food grown in Bajura is enough to feed its population only two to three months only. Only 30 to 50 percent of the households in the district stock food for another two to three months. The problem is further compounded by unemployment.
In order to overcome food shortages, the local government has the responsibility to promote cash crops in Bajura, motivate people to become self-employed through skill-based training, and promote entrepreneurship. The general public, going by slogans the candidates’ slogans during elections, believed that representatives would create jobs. Nara Bahadur Rawat, chief of Chhededaha Rural Municipality, had promised to create employment with his slogan titled ‘End of Unemployment, Development of Industry’ in his manifesto.
Gaumul Rural Municipality chief Rokaya also wrote in his manifesto, the CPN (UML) is clear that employment cannot be created without the development of industry. These three works will be done keeping in view the fact that standard of living has been eroded due to lack of proper management of raw materials, traditional skills and technology required for industrial development in our village: 1) Number of unemployed people in the village will be counted within a year 2) Policy will be formulated to boost the production of nettle in the village and a processing plan will be brought into operation; employment will be provided to at least 200 people in such factories; provision of tax exemption for industrialists who create jobs by operating factories will be implemented. 3) Within five years, the village will be declared ‘self-employed’ village, where every one person will be doing something useful.
But these promises have been limited to paper. Rawat, chief of Khaptad Chhededah Rural municipality, said, “We have been unable to fulfill everything written in the manifesto due to lack of resources. But those who go to India have gone because they earn better there. ”
Neither drinking water nor electricity
The villagers of Gadkhet near Martadi, the Bajura district headquarters, have been facing drinking water shortages for a long time. Man Singh Baduwal said that he faced a lot of hardships after his community’s source of drinking water dried up. Fifty families of the village in Badimalika Municipality-9 now drink water from the Bauli River. According to local resident Angat Baduwal, the people and their livestock are forced to drink water from the same place. Due to such contaminated water, cases diarrhoea and other water-borne diseases have been rampant in the village every year.
A woman fetching drinking water from a well.
Mayor Padma Bahadur Baduwal promised to supply drinking water to the village when he became a candidate in the local elections. Baduwal’s manifesto said, “One house will be provided one tap will after identifying a water source.” However, Santosh BK of Badimalika-9 says that the mayor commitment has not been fulfilled.
Local resident Nishant Baduwal said leaders talk about the problem they have been facing for years only during elections. “They shout slogans during the election, but when they are done with it, they don’t do anything,” he said. Water shortages have also affected health and sanitation programmes in the settlement. “If drinking water has to be brought from the river, where can I get water for bathing or using in toilets?” local resident Tula Baduwal asked.
A similar problem of drinking water has been faced by residents of Kolti in Budhinanda Municipality. During the election, candidates there had also promised to supply drinking water to the residents. “Kolti Bazaar is the second commercial center of the district, but ere people are forced to fetch water from the river. What about other places?” Agni Shahi, a trader from Kolti Bazaar, asked.
Kapoor Bk of Budhinanda Municipality-1, Peepaldali, said that leaders only promise to provide drinking water every election, but such plans remain unimplemented. “Drinking water, education, transportation, electricity and other problems are all over the district. All the leaders who won or lost the election had committed to building such infrastructure in their manifesto. But, the people’s griefs remain the same, ”BK added.
The Drinking Water and Sanitation Office, Bajura, claimed that 19,000 of 24,000 households in the district have access to drinking water.
Bajura has problems not only with drinking water, but also with electricity. Not a single new project has been added to the 25 small hydropower projects developed by the then District Development Committee. The district needs three megawatts of electricity. According to the District Coordination Committee, the 25 small hydropower projects in operation have an installed capacity of 1,875 kW. Moreover, these projects are not generating electricity at full capacity.
Chief of Badimalika Municipality Padma Bahadur Baduwal had promised in his election manifesto to take initiatives to build the Upper Budhiganga Hydropower Project. Similarly, Gaumul Rural Municipality chief Hari Rokaya had promised to generate at least 40 megawatts of electricity. Both of these promises were limited to the election campaign. Even after the announcement of the end of loadshedding across the country, district headquarters Martadi Bazaar is without power for hours every day. Kashi BK, president of NGO Federation, said, “Even though it is not possible to build a new one, it is necessary to take initiative to expand the central transmission line. No one has done that.”
