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More than half of the liberated kamaiyas (bonded labourers) in Bardiya district are yet to receive land as per the promise made by the government when they were declared free. "From the frying pan into the fire" is what quintessentially characterizes the situation of the ex-Kamaiyas, who are still languishing in many illegal camps in different places close to the East-West highway. This is reflected in the voices of around 3,000 ex-Kamaiyas here who, in no uncertain terms, state this is simply because the government failed to live up to its promise to provide them land and money. The government had promised Rs. 8,000 and a piece of land to each former bonded labourer when it declared them free from all kinds of bondage some two years back.

Of some 7,000 ex-Kamaiyas in Bardiya, around 3,000 holding red and blue cards have received lands in some 30 Village Development Committees (VDCs) and in one municipality - Gulariya. The remaining half are yet to get land, while those who have already settled have not felt fully emancipated as even very basic requirements like drinking water is out of their reach. The government distributed four different coloured cards – red, blue, yellow and white – to ex-Kamaiyas in its bid to group them according to their status.

The red cards are given to those who do not have both land and house. Blue cards indicate ex-Kamaiyas with houses but no land. Yellow stands for those having houses and small plots of land. Those carrying white cards are supposedly better off than the yellow cardholders. However, even those 'settled' in new lands are not happy. They complain the Land Reforms Office has pitted them in squatters’ settlement area and riverbanks. “How can people build houses in areas where people are already living?" Wondered Lautan Tharu, who has been living in Machhaghar camp in Bardiya.

“Even when it comes to the open lands, the ones already settled there claim those were their animal pasture,” Hassi Ram Chaudhari echoed Tharu’s voice. “The government had provided around 5 kathha land and given Rs. 8,000 for house-construction, but how can we build a house on sand?” After the government had abolished the bonded-labour system on July 17, 2000, tens of thousands of Kamaiyas were, according to the plan, to be re-settled in five Kamaiya concentrated districts—Banke, Bardiya, Kailali, Kanchanpur and Dang.

The government had planned to provide land to the remaining ex-Kamaiyas in different VDCs, according to Mukti Bahadur Swanr, Land Reforms Officer in Bardiya. He says, “We have already planned the settlement areas in several VDCs and municipalities but other government bodies and NGOs are not cooperating. Only an integrated approach can rehabilitate these ex-Kamaiyas.”

Almost in all ex-Kamaiya camps the heart of the problem lies in unemployment. Earlier they had to work for landlords round the clock; the difference now is that they are free—may be happy to be so as they don't have to work for landlords—which is where the difference ends for them. For, even now they are frustrated because they have not received enough land for agriculture, their traditional profession. While ex-Kamaiyas in legal camps are desperate for employment, for people in illegal camps even the promised land seems to be a distant dream, leave alone employment.

"Without home you can think of nothing," say many ex-Kamaiyas at Langhawa and Bangain camps. Land Reform Officials in Bardiya realize that although some 2000 ex-Kamaiyas are yet to be identified, they have not yet re-identified them. They say, "A proposal has been sent to the Council of Ministers for re-identifying ex-Kamaiyas."

This is not all. Perennial water supply crisis plagues most ex-Kamaiya camps. For instance, there is only one shallow tube-well for more than 60 houses in Dhadhwar, the VDC having the largest number of ex-Kamaiyas. Likewise, Machhaghar camp has only shallow tube-well for 50 families.

The NGOs too are facing difficulties in providing relief to ex-Kamaiyas. “Unless the government re-settles ex-Kamaiyas permanently, we can’t distribute shallow tube-wells in the temporary camps,” said Kumar Silwal, program coordinator at Nepal Water for Health (NEWAH.)

Dhadhwar, Deudhakala and Kalika camps have the largest number of ex-Kamaiyas, where the supply of drinking water is necessary. More than 500 families have already settled in Dhadhwar but the government plans to settle around 800 houses there. There are government schools close to a few ex-Kamaiya settlement camps but the former bonded labourers' children have hardly been to those schools.