उद्धार, राहत कार्य एवम् पुनर्वासको मौजुदा स्थिति र किंकर्तव्यविमुढ नेपाल सरकार
Posted by The Himalayan Voice:
[यसका अतिरिक्त राष्ट्रिय र व्यक्तिगत सम्पति र जाय-जेथाको के कति हानी-नोक्सानी भएको छ, त्यसको लेखा-जोखा सरकारी वा गैह्र-सरकारी कुनै पनि श्रोतवाट प्राप्त भएको छैन। अहिले सम्ममा राष्ट्रिय र अन्तरराष्ट्रिय स्तरवाट के कति र कस्तो प्रकारको सहयोग नेपाललाई प्राप्त भएको छ त्यसको जानकारी जनतालाई छैन। उद्धार कार्य, राहत कार्य र पुनर्वासको मौजुदा स्थिति के रहेको छ सरकारको तर्फवाट आधिकारिक र पारदर्शी रूपमा रूपमा सार्वजनिक गरिएको छैन। यसवाट सरकार किंकर्तव्यविमुढ भएको र विपक्षले यसैलाई अचानो वनाएर सत्ता परिवर्तनको दाउमा वसेको आभास हुन्छ। ]
प्रा. मदन दाहाल
नयां वर्ष २०७२ को प्रारम्भ संगै नेपालमा वैसाक १२ गते शनिवार दिउंसो ११:५६ वजे ७.९ रिक्टर स्केलको अत्यन्त शक्तिशाली एवं प्रचण्ड-विनाशकारी महा-भूकम्प आयो। तत्पश्चात अर्को दिन ६.९ रिक्टर स्केल लगाएत हिजो सम्म ठूला र साना गरी भूकम्पका सैकडौं झटकाहरू लगातार आई रहे। यो वि. स. १९९० पश्चातको नेपाल र नेपाली जनतामाथि परेको सवै भन्दा निर्मम, ठूलो दुखद र भयङ्कर त्रासदी हो। त्यसवाट अहिले यो स्ट्याटस् लेख्दा सम्ममा सम्पूर्ण नेपाल भरिमा करीव ७,००० मानिसको मृत्यू भैसकेको र १४,००० भन्दा बढी घाईते भएको खवर प्राप्त भएको छ।
यसका अतिरिक्त राष्ट्रिय र व्यक्तिगत सम्पति र जाय-जेथाको के कति हानी-नोक्सानी भएको छ, त्यसको लेखा-जोखा सरकारी वा गैह्र-सरकारी कुनै पनि श्रोतवाट प्राप्त भएको छैन। अहिले सम्ममा राष्ट्रिय र अन्तरराष्ट्रिय स्तरवाट के कति र कस्तो प्रकारको सहयोग नेपाललाई प्राप्त भएको छ त्यसको जानकारी जनतालाई छैन। उद्धार कार्य, राहत कार्य र पुनर्वासको मौजुदा स्थिति के रहेको छ सरकारको तर्फवाट आधिकारिक र पारदर्शी रूपमा रूपमा सार्वजनिक गरिएको छैन। यसवाट सरकार किंकर्तव्यविमुढ भएको र विपक्षले यसैलाई अचानो वनाएर सत्ता परिवर्तनको दाउमा वसेको आभास हुन्छ।
यस्तो राष्ट्रिय विपत्ति र महा-त्रासदीको घडीमा सत्ता र विपक्षी राजनैतिक दलका नेता र कार्यकर्ताहरू तथा तिनका समस्त भातृ-संगठनहरू, तथाकथित नागरिक समाजका अगुवाहरू र स्वनामधन्य मानव अधिकारवादी कर्मीहरूका साथै निजी क्षेत्रका मूर्धन्य उद्धमी र व्यवसायीहरू कहां छन दिउंसै रांको वालेर खोज्ने वेला भएको छ। यता भूकम्प पिडित निरीह नेपाली जनता दलदलमा पुरिएका आफन्तहरू अझै जिवितै फर्केर आउंछन् कि भनेर गह भरि आशुंमा डुवेर वसेका छन्। यस्तो अवस्था देख्दा लाग्छ हामी सवै जिम्मेवारी लिएर वसेका मानिसहरू उदासिन, संवेदनशीलताहीन फगत एउटा अत्यन्त कुरूप स्वार्थी यन्त्र हौं।
अहिले सम्मको जानकारीमा नेपाली सेना, सशस्त्र र जनपथ प्रहरी तथा राष्ट्रसेवक कर्मचारीहरूले सह्रानीय कार्य गरेका छन्, यसको प्रशंसा गर्नै पर्दछ। छिमेकी राष्ट्रहरू लगाएत अन्य विभिन्न मुलुक र संघ-संस्थाहरूवाट प्राप्त वैदेशिक सहयोगको खुलेर सह्राना गर्नै पर्दछ र स्वदेशी र वैदेशिक सहयोग भूकम्प पिडित जनतामा पुग्नु पर्दछ र यसको सदुपयोग हुनु पर्दछ।
म धेरै ठूलो आदर्शको कुरा गर्दिन - तसर्थ आ-आफ्नो स्थान, हैसियत र ईच्छा अनुसार आंफुले चाहेको ठाउमा गएर ती भूकम्प पिडित जनतालाई के कस्तो सहयोग गर्न सकिन्छ गरौं। आफ्नो ईज्जत र आवरू वचाउं ! हामी सवैलाई चेतना भया !!
Kathmandu, April 30: At the Tudikhel tent shelter mid-town last evening, Prime Minister Sushil Koirala had to retreat from hostile jeering by the quake-hit.
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NEPAL BRISTLES AT MISSING LEADERSHIP["Where is the government that said it wants Nepal to be a democracy, a republic of the people? Where are those people? Surveying our tragedy from helicopters?"]
By Sankarshan Thakur
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| Durbar High School in ruins |
A day before, deputy Prime Minister Bamdev Gautam nearly pulled out of the completion rites of a major rescue mission near the Shobha Bhagwati Bridge on the capital's outskirts for fear of being heckled; he had to be assured by senior Indian officials in charge of the operation no harm would come to him before Gautam agreed to go.
On the boundary rails of the Singha Durbar, seat of Nepal's government, Kathmandu residents have put up a missing-person notice as taunt to their representative in the Constituent Assembly: "Dhyan Govind, where are you? And where is the aid?"
The quake has opened a chasm between Nepal's political class and the people that's brimming over with ire and indignation.
"Our leadership has collectively retreated from responsibility in a time of grave crisis," says Kumar Regmi, one of Nepal's better-known constitutional lawyers.
"Much less come forward and come to grips with the situation, they have not even moved to empathise with the people they rule, or even been on call in their hour of need. It makes things worse that the government and Opposition are united in their dereliction; the people have no option to forsake one formation and embrace another."
In the days since Nepal's worst quake in living memory struck, the national leadership has made its truancy palpably felt. It has not presented itself on the crisis barricades, it has absented itself from the public discourse.
The government has omitted to engage with a stricken nation, issuing neither appeal nor assurance from the helm it occupies. It has shut its door to media interaction or questioning. It has left coordination and execution of rescue and relief efforts to the army. It has offered little sense to the people it is an institution whose central purpose is to serve them.
"Where are the people we worked and voted for?" asks Akhilesh Shreshtha, a farmer from Sindhupalchok district, who has lost his home and three near ones.
"Where is the government that said it wants Nepal to be a democracy, a republic of the people? Where are those people? Surveying our tragedy from helicopters?"
That sentiment is widespread, bubbling across Nepal as victims await succour.
It's the kind of anger that former Kathmandu mayor and Nepali environment minister P.L. Singh finds just as well as alarming.
"I am least surprised the politicians are running scared, they have lost credibility overtime and with this quake they stand exposed; they have proved themselves a set that can only serve themselves, not the people. That can't be good for the health of a democracy; this democracy is failing the people," Singh says.
A long-serving leader of the Nepali Congress and a man with access to inside workings of the government, Singh said: "The government and administration are in total disarray, such that they are sitting on piles of aid and relief and cannot get it distributed; they don't know what to tell international rescue and relief workers; even senior minister don't know, they are just busy trying to hide from the people."
A senior Nepali government official who attended a government-international aid agency interface revealed on condition of anonymity that department heads had not been able to furnish clear directions to aid workers; their most offered response: "We shall let you know."
Caroline Anning, a "Save the Children" volunteer from theUK, told The Telegraph she and her team had been working "pretty much on our own".
Her great advantage was she had had a previous stint inNepal. "It's because I know people here and have some sense of what might be needed where that we are able to make some headway. There isn't a central place or nodal agency that is overseeing deployment."
For a volunteer fresh in Nepal - and there are many - the lack of local guidance can be a handicap - to them and, more critically, to the aid effort.
On the road to Gorkha in the west Nepal hills, we ran into a stranded medical team from Bihar. The doctors were taking a nap in a local lodge, the ambulance and a bus loaded with medicines and first aid were being washed.
"For three days we have only been running from one place to another," said driver Ram Kumar.
"Wherever somebody sends us we are told we are not required; now we are headed to Gorkha, if there is nothing to be done there we may just head back."
Back at the Tudikhel camp in Kathmandu, where Prime Minister Koirala was jeered, Bikram Bhele, a displaced tour operator, made a cutting summation of why public rage was beginning to sporadically erupt: "This lot (the politicians) have not been able to give this country a Constitution for seven years now; do you think they can be up to any good other than holding on to power?"
The quake-hit remains of the Gorkha Boys School at Rani Pokhari in central Kathmandu. Picture by Sankarshan Thakur