Over 1,500 Nepali youths stranded in Jammu and Kashmir

Over 1,500 Nepali youth, most of them daily wage earners, are stranded in India's Jammu and Kashmir state due to the floods and landslides.

Over 300 of them are from Saptari district alone on the Nepal-India border.

Grief and gloom have spread over several villages where families of these stranded Nepalis have been anxiously awaiting news from their sole bread earners. As of now, the government of Nepal has not officially made any comment on the stranded Nepalis.

According to media reports in Nepal, 1,000 more Nepalis who have been working in the state are out of contact. Many Nepali youth visit the Indian states like Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh as seasonal migrants to pluck apple and other fruits.

Chandeshwor Kamait, a Saptari youth who talked to The Himalayan Times over phone from flood-hit Jammu and Kashmir, said that more than 300 youth from various villages of Saptari district were stranded in the state. He also put the total number of stranded Nepalis in the flood-hit Indian state at around 1,500.

Most of these stranded and missing Nepalis are daily wage earners, he said.

Family members of these Nepalis have urged the government to take prompt action to evacuate the stranded youth as big festivals are approaching. They also criticised the apathy shown by the government through the media.

Earlier, the Indian Air Force had evacuated Indian Ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae, Deputy Chief of Nepali Mission in New Delhi Krishna Prasad Dhakal and over one dozen officials from India and Nepal from Jammu and Kashmir. They were there to attend a meeting of the B.P. Koirala Nepal-India Foundation.

The Nepal Embassy in New Delhi will be asked to find out the exact status of Nepalis working in the state and take necessary action for the safe return of the trapped Nepalis, a senior Nepal government official told IANS.

(Anil Giri can be contacted at girianil@gmail.com)