BENUP RAJ BHATTARAI

As the general strike for a new statehood of Gorkhaland in the Darjeeling hills of India enters the second month, more than five thousand porters, mostly from rural parts of Dolakha district in Nepal, have become the ultimate victims.

The porters, locally known as “Charikote” (named after Charikot, a village in Dolakha), have been rendered jobless and are badly struggling to make the ends meet as the strike has brought normal life in this popular hill station to a grinding halt.

Stranded due to the crippling strike, they can neither leave for home nor find work there. Given the situation, they said, all they can do is keep their fingers crossed, hoping that the strike would end shortly.

“I have been living on with the money saved earlier. Now, my saving is running low,” said Pahal Bahadur Thami, who has been working as a porter in Darjeeling for three years. “We are anxiously waiting for the strike to be over,” he added. According to him, he used to earn 700 Indian rupees a day, carrying LP gas cylinders from the depots to retailer shops.

“I did not have any problems in finding work before the strike started. Without work for a month now, I have been taking loans just to afford two meals a day,” said Pahal Bahadur, who has to pay 2,900 Indian rupees monthly for food.

Chandra Kala Karki, 24, who came to Darjeeling along with other youths in search of a better job, was found sitting idle on the roadside on Sunday. “Job was going well and the income was good, but everything changed after the strike,” said Karki, adding she used to send 7,000 Indian rupees per month back home in Dolakha before the strike.

Managal Bahadur Tamang, another porter from Dolakha, who was found strolling along Goyanka Road in Darjeeling, has a similar story to tell. “I had taken a loan to buy 24 ropanis of land in the village. I had hoped to repay the loan, banking on my earnings here in Darjeeling. The interest on the loan is increasing as I am without work due to the strike,” said Tamang. “There are many Charikote porters like me who are about to return home due to the Gorkhaland stir,” Tamang added.

According to these porters, over five hundred porters had already left Darjeeling before the strike actually started while the rest were basically stranded as they could not leave the hill station quickly.

Besides Darjeeling, many Charikote porters are stranded in Kalimpong, Kharsang, Mirik, Rimbik, Manaebhanjyang areas in India.

Published on: 2 September | Republica