Left for dead, man turns into a successful vegetable farmer

By Our Correspondent,Baitadi, Nov. 27: Chintamani Bhatta, who was arrested for being a member of Maoist outfit and left for dead after extreme torture, has now emerged as the leading farmer of the village. While hundreds of young people from the village are going abroad for employment, Bhatta of Melauli Municipality-6, Hataranga has succeeded in earning about Rs. 400,000 yearly by growing vegetables in a ropani of land. He has also inspired 25 farmers of the Municipality-6 to become self-reliant by giving training on vegetable farming.

He said that he has trained thousands of farmers from inside and outside the district for the past seven years.

Bhatta, who has been supplying the local market by rearing chickens along with vegetable farming, has succeeded to provide technical education to his two sons from agricultural work.

Bhatta, who was arrested on charges of being a Maoist in 2059, said that he was released after being beaten to death.

He said that while the security personnel were taking him to the forest to kill, they left him in the middle of the way.

He said, "I joined the Maoist party in 2000 when I was studying in the second year of the proficiency certificate level. I was arrested on January 13, 2003. At that time, I was beaten to death. When I came to my senses, I was somewhere on a forest path. Later I came to know a teacher had saved me saying that I was not a Maoist."  After that, he left the village and lived underground in Kanchanpur and India for five months.

Bhatta, who started enjoying agriculture rather than active politics despite being a member of the party, is now known as a leading farmer.

Dashrath Bhatta, a leading farmer of Melauli Municipality-6, Hataranga, said that when Chintamani returned to the village after the Maoist movement, the agricultural revolution began.

He said, "After Chintamani taught us to grow commercial vegetables, 25 farmers of the village started vegetable farming." He said that after the entire village of Chintamani started vegetable farming, the government of Sudurpaschim Province also got 25 polyhouse tunnels under the Chief Minister Model Agricultural Village Programme.

The farmers of the village said that they started earning income by supplying the vegetables grown in the village to the local Melauli market. Farmers here have started to become self-sufficient by selling rice, radish, tomato, cauliflower and cabbage produced in the village.