Damak to address food problem of refugees

By Bishnu Prasad Pokhrel,Damak, June 26:The local government has started paying attention to the situation and livelihood condition of the Bhutanese refugees living in the Bhutanese refugee camps in eastern Nepal.

When the refugees demanded that they should be saved from starvation, the local government also started paying attention to this matter.

According to Regina Bhattarai, Deputy Mayor of Damak Municipality, it has been informed that the International Migration Organisation (IMO) head of Nepal, Lorena Lando, has discussed various issues including life of refugees living in the Beldangi Refugee Camp of Damak.

Since the donor agencies that have been supporting the refugees have now stopped their support, the refugees living in the refugee camps have been in confusion. 

In such a situation, there was a discussion on how both sides would work positively to solve the problems, said Bhattarai.

"We have proposed to coordinate with each other to make the refugees’ life easier," Bhattarai said.

In the latest discussion held in Damak Municipality, Mayor of Damak, Ram Kumar Thapa and Chief Administrative Officer Damaru Prasad Niraula were also present.

The IMO has been working continuously since 2007 for the third-country resettlement of the Bhutanese refugees.

Since 2007, the IOM in Nepal has supported the resettlement process of 112,000 refugees in eight countries (Australia, Canada, Denmark, New Zealand, Netherlands, Norway, UK and America).

The IOM arranged all the resettlement-related services such as forwarding the personal files of the refugees, health examination, medical investigation, pre-departure orientation and transportation arrangements.