It has been seven years that the Kamaiyas were liberated from bonded labour through a government decree, but their condition is still far from satisfactory.

Saying that the government announced the liberation of Kamaiyas or bonded labourers haphazardly and didn’t quite pay attention towards their proper rehabilitation including arranging a place for them to live and employment to earn their livelihood, the Kamaiyas staged a sit-in protest in front of Singhdubar, the seat of the government, at 10 am Wednesday morning.

During the peaceful protest, the Kamiyas also flayed the government for its apathy towards their problems.

More than 2,00,000 freed Kamaiyas live in western Nepal districts of Banke, Bardiya, Kailali, Kanchanpur and Dang, often in semi-destitute conditions without any proper place to live or anything to earn their livelihood.

Among the 35,721 Kamaiya families the then Deuba government had freed through an announcement on Shrawan 2, 2057, the government has still not been able to properly rehabilitate more than half or 18,000 Kamaiyas families, according to activists working for the rights of Kamaiyas.

Meanwhile, police have destroyed the makeshift huts freed Kamaiyas had built by illegally encroaching upon the public land in Teenkune, Kathmandu Tuesday evening.