Due to extreme cold, 62-year-old Bouelal Sada of Baghchaud-2 of Hanspur Municipality, Dhanusha, is unable to sleep throughout the night. Sleeping on straw with only a thin sheet, Sada finds it difficult to protect himself from the cold. As he can not sleep due to the cold, he lights a fire pit at night to keep warm.
“We are poor people. It’s hard enough to get a full meal; where would we get bedding?” he laments on Tuesday afternoon while sitting in his courtyard sorting rice. “I spread straw underneath and covered myself with a thin sheet. It doesn’t stop the cold. When it gets unbearable, I can’t sleep, I warm myself by the fire pit, try to heat my body, and then attempt to sleep again.”
Sada’s wife, Sanechari Devi, also suffers from the cold due to the lack of proper bedding. Their 15-year-old house, built on public land with a straw roof, has become dilapidated and is on the verge of collapsing. The couple somehow manages their livelihood in the same house.
They cannot even afford to buy a warm blanket.
Some Musahar families in the same settlement have received houses built by the Madhesh provincial government under the Janata Awas (People’s Housing) program. But for the Sada couple, straw and the fire pit remain their only means of escaping the cold.
Sada’s youngest son, Ramsharan, also spends the night in another straw-roofed house, relying on straw and a single blanket. Complaining that local and provincial governments have never cared about them, Sada said they are forced to endure freezing nights.
Nearby, 65-year-old Kesodevi Sada was warming herself by the fire pit around noon. The fire was almost extinguished. Wrapped in a sheet and sitting close to the embers, Kesodevi and her family of seven are surviving on straw and a single blanket.
“The cold is severe. Seven of us sleep, relying on straw and a single blanket. When it’s extremely cold, we even cover ourselves with straw; otherwise, we warm ourselves by the fire pit to overcome the cold,” she says to Onlinekhabar.
The condition of neighbour Raj Kishor Sada is no different. His roof is covered with torn plastic. Surrounded on three sides by ripped cloth, he sleeps on straw, covered with a thin blanket.
“This is where my father sleeps. My nephew and sister-in-law sleep inside the house. In another place, my mother and I sleep. There is no other option,” says his daughter, Bhuli Sada.
During winter, the days and nights of 65-year-old resident Dukhni Sada are equally harsh. A single blanket given by relatives has become the family’s only protection from the cold. They somehow manage to sleep, but apart from the clothes they wear and a thin sheet, they have nothing warm.
“If relatives hadn’t given us this blanket, it would have been so difficult. Straw and this blanket are our only support to get through the cold,” says Dukhni. “This thin sheet is all we have for bedding. It doesn’t keep out the cold. When it gets too cold, I warm myself by the fire pit.”
Not only Bouelal, Kesodevi, and Dukhni Sada, but the entire settlement faces a shortage of bedding and warm clothing during winter. As a result, everyone, from the elderly to children, has begun to suffer from the cold. Some children do not even have slippers on their feet.
These settlements are just examples. For the past three days, extreme cold has intensified across Madhesh. Cold waves sweep through the region in the mornings. Almost every local unit in Madhesh has similar Dalit and impoverished settlements. As the cold intensifies, daily life has become increasingly difficult due to the lack of blankets, bedding, and warm clothing. However, neither local nor provincial governments appear to have made adequate preparations for these communities.
Following the rise in cold waves in the Terai-Madhesh region, several local governments have announced winter holidays for schools.
Hanspur Municipality Mayor Pradip Yadav, however, claimed that there is no shortage of bedding in Dalit settlements in his municipality. He said that only a few households are facing problems.
“Only a small number of people lack blankets and warm clothes in winter. We are preparing to distribute firewood to help people cope with the cold. A meeting to be held soon will decide on purchasing blankets,” he says.
