91-year-old blind Anita awaits citizenship

By Puskar Bhandari,Dadeldhura, Apr. 5: Anita Bista has lost her vision to old age.  She has been living in Ward No. 3 of Amargadhi Municipality, the district headquarters of Dadeldhura.  She is now 91, and still she has not received her citizenship certificate.

Mother to a daughter and grandmother to five, Anita has been unable to enjoy the  government services, such as senior citizen allowance, in lack of citizenship. Anita's house is situated in Markatte Village in Ward No. 3 of Amargadhi. 

The District Administration Office (DAO), Dadeldhura, is only five kilometres away and the ward office is only a kilometre away from her house. A team from the DAO has been reaching the houses of people with disabilities to provide citizenship. However, the team has not reached the house of Anita yet. Similarly, the ward office has also not initiated any process to issue the citizenship to Anita.

Family members of Anita said that they also did not initiate any proper steps because they were unaware of the restrictions that prevent Anita from seeking government and other services.

"Our father works in India. There is no one at home who can initiate the citizenship-related issue, and local representatives have not shown interest. I see many disabled individuals and senior citizens getting allowance but my grandmother has received no service yet," said Nirmala, granddaughter of Anita.

Meanwhile, local representatives informed that there were lack of documents to initiate citizenship process of Anita. "Anita's maternal home is in India from where we haven’t received any documents. 

The DAO had asked her son to present any documents that would show that Anita was born in India, but he has not submitted them yet," said Tirtha Bahadur Aire, ward chairman of Ward No. 3 of Amargadhi.