Baitadi Baitadi district is considered to be the shop for herbs containing taxal chemical which cures cancer by consuming ‘phosphorite’ used in agricultural waste. Various minerals and useful herbs are also found here.
Due to the lack of access to food and herbs, the poor youth have started migrating abroad in search of employment. As the young manpower migrates, there are old women, women and some other people in the village. Although most of the youth go to India in search of employment, the number of going to Gulf countries and Malaysia has increased recently. After the disappearance of Lokraj Bhatt Utai from Sigas Municipality-1, Gaya, Malaysia, his elderly mother and daughter have been living in Bato Kurer for eight years.
After earning a living by working in India, Hark Bahadur Airi of the ward went to the Gulf country with a loan of two lakhs. Balveda, a young man from the same ward, and his elderly mother and father went to India in search of work to support their family.
Migration from the countryside is the cause of unemployment and the youth are only some of the representative characters. Sigas Municipality-1, Sugarkhalma Falamkhani chama youth escape. The mine here has 38 percent magnetite iron, but due to the lack of roads and electricity, mining could not be done due to technical tests. Despite the availability of food grains and herbs in Wada, 80 percent of its youth migrate to India and Gulf countries for employment, which has been going on for a long time. According to the data of the district administration office, the number of youths receiving allowance increased last year. In the financial year 2074/75, the number of railway lines was 5 thousand, but in 2079/80, it increased to 2,680.
Phosphorite, iron, limestone, shilajit, slate and stone are used in Baitadi to make mortar including silver mines. There are more than 65 herbs including Pakhanveda, Chiraito, Sugandhawal, Chutro, Tejpatta, Ritha, Simjadi, Amla, Harrobaro, Gud, Maha etc. which cure cancer.
However, since herbal products are exported to India through intermediaries, herbal treatment centers have not been established in the district. Gwalek and Sigas protected forests are being destroyed due to the release of cancer-curing chemical Tyxal.
Sateench herbs with chow chow and kurmura
School going children collect herbs like pakhnaveda, simjadi, chutro and prepare chauchour and kurmure paste through middlemen. It has been found that middlemen distribute such herbs in Nepalganj and send them to India.
According to the data of Division Forest Office, 400,000 kg of herbs are sent to India every year. Dilip Kumar Yadav, head of the forest office informed that the highest number of excavations took place in Tejpatta, Simjadi, Chutro, Sugandhwal, Amala and Ritto divisions.
He said, ‘The local wild fruit is used indiscriminately to increase the extraction of Kirmada (Chutro). Only after extraction of this herb, a revenue of Rs 10 per kg is obtained from clever collection.
Study done, excavation not done
Dogdakedar municipality-7 and 3 no. Although there has been a detailed study on the use of agricultural waste in the phosphorite mine located in Saun village of Basaura and Purchauri municipality-6 of the ward, the industry has not yet opened.
Five years ago, a team of 15 people under the leadership of senior geologist Kumar Khadka of the Department of Geology returned to Nepal after digging for 55 days (straw digging work) and seeing the possibility of becoming arable land. Despite the fact that the government of Nepal imports sewage worth 6 billion rupees annually from farmers, the phosphorite mining and processing industry has not been established.
In Purchauri municipality of Ho district, 10 watts of local water is being mined, while phosphorus mining is used for farming. There are Chundhunga and Phosphorite mines in Dogadakedar Municipality, Lead in Gwalekma in Dasharatchand Municipality and Shilajit Mine in Maura Bhir.
Similarly, in Sigas Municipality, Khari Dhunga, Slate Mine, Dilashaini Municipality, Chhor Bagne Chamelia River Bank, Uranium and Gold Potential, Kutani Grinding Mill, Grinding Stone, Zanto and Mortar Manufacturing Industry are running in Shivnath Municipality. But the industry has not been able to operate.
Despite requesting the government for a detailed exploration of the mine, the study has not been done yet. Before the restructuring of the local sub-division, the then district development committee used to coordinate and correspond with the mining and geology department to discuss the matter of studying uranium mining.
Stop eating fruit while using
In Malladehi Kalidhunga area of Purchauri municipality, fruits worth more than four centuries are found locally excavated 35 years ago. After Dvandakalama stopped eating fruits, Khaldama threw the dead cattle in the local garbage.
After the mining stopped, the practice of digging and making various tools disappeared. The use of plastic and silver imported from abroad to make utensils has increased. Huge stilts (Karahi) made of excavated timber are still found in flocks in the folk dialects of the Far West. When iron mining stopped, the traditional aran also stopped. From today’s Gorkhapatra