The house of Bailey Thapa, a resident of Maldhunga near Kaligandaki of Baglung, has not made a proper living for two months. She is not the only one who has been making a living by fishing, extracting stones, ballast and sand from the river Kaligandaki since 1994 AD.
The sacred river Kaligandaki, which flows through Baglung and the mountains, is under exploitation. The river rescue campaign has now reached the Supreme Court. The campaign to save the river is active and aims to make Kaligandaki river equipment free. Exploitation of Kaligandaki using large equipment in the river endangers the existence of the river, extinction of Shalgram and extinction of Kaligandaki civilization along the river.
Crusher operators have now stopped direct exploitation, but are still selling the sand and stones exploited in the rainy season by putting them in the hill crusher while the workers who sell four or five heads of ballast and sand a day have lost their livelihood. Salita Majhi of Ramrekha, Baglung Municipality-1, lamented that families like them, who make a living by the river, have problems in extracting ballast and sand.
"We have been dependent on the river since way before, but the river has changed its course due to the crushers that were installed in the river a few years ago. They will not even be allow us to take out four or five bags of sand in the river, but they are allowed to make a mountain of sand by exploiting the river with big equipment. This is an injustice. ”
"We are extracting sand with the help of shovels, spades and javelins," he said. "Even now, at night, secret crushers are putting dozers in the river." However, labor leader Shukra Bahadur Lama said that they could not make a living as they could not extract four or five bags of sand daily.
Despite repeated orders by the Supreme Court to stop the exploitation, the workers have said that it was not against the workers like us but against the Mafia like workers. Tilak Bahadur Lungeli, a laborer, said that the police has not allowed them to extract stones, ballast and sand from the river since 1994 AD.
Although the dozer operation on the Kaligandaki River has been reduced to some extent following the Supreme Court's order, it has not been able to stopped completely. Crusher operators have not dared to operate dozers in the open river now. But the river is still being exploited at night. "It is the highest order not to dig the river with big dozers, but workers like us have lost their jobs," said Lungeli.
The Supreme Court had ordered to stop the exploitation of Kaligandaki on July 13, 2021 and again on March 9, 2022 AD.
"Our movement is with the crusher traders of Kaligandaki exploitation, not with the workers carrying four sacks of sand a day," he said. The workers accused the police of intimidating them and that they lost their jobs due to the river exploitation businessmen.
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