Unscheduled development plan of Nijgadh International Airport left people of Tangiya basti stranded.
People of Bara were hopeful that this year’s budget will allocate fund for the construction of international airport in Tangiya, for which the government already had planned to relocate many people a long time ago. But the hope has been lost, since the government did not include any fund for that project which has been a major obstacle for other development efforts such as drinking water, electricity, roads and so on. Actually, people of Tangiya were rather shocked that this year also they were denied from funding.
There are about one thousand three hundred houses and the population is more than seven thousand in Tangiya, Bara. The government had a plan to relocate this place for constructing an International airport. Due to this relocation plan, which had been proposed years ago, people of Tangiya are currently not getting other facilities.
The chairman of Tangiya basti Sarokar Samiti said, “It has added dilemma for us. We are not getting any other facilities due to the planning of relocation. We have been managing alternative resources by ourselves. Yet, this time also we were rejected from funding. How long will we survive from this?” He added, “We are ready to leave this place if the government is prepared. But they are neither prepared to relocate us nor provide with us other facilities.”
Construction of schools has also been annulled due to this un-organized relocation plan of government. Students are compelled to walk about seven kilometers through a dense jungle to go to school. This has added fear among the students as well as to the parents. One of the locals Kulkumari said, “Wild elephants are normal in those forest. We are really scared for our children. Government is not even planning to make schools in our area. How can we live like this?”
Another local Shankar Tamang added, “This is injustice! We have waited for years and this year also we were rejected from funding. If the construction of this airport had begun then it would be a start of a significant project for the government and we locals would also get rid of this trouble.”
