KATHMANDU, March 3 - His 90-year old mother had suggested that he flee the village seven years ago after Maoist cadres beat him nearly to death. A permanent resident of Jugu VDC-4, Dolakha district, Kul Bahadur Karki, 55, has no respite from the Maoist excesses even here in Kathmandu.
Earlier, he had to flee his village for not offering food and shelter to Maoists. And now, the Maoists have robbed him of his means of sustenance for not paying levy to them.
"Where do I go now?" said Karki, whose rickshaw was allegedly banned from plying in capital by the Maoist-affiliated Young Communist League (YCL) cadres. "We poor and helpless do not get relief even here in Kathmandu."
YCL has been collecting Rs 10 a day as levy from rickshaws plying in inner city roads in the capital city. However, Karki continued to turn down the demand for levy.
According to him, YCL cadres allegedly threatened rickshaw owner not to let Karki ply as he did not pay levy to them. "As usual, I went to the residence of my rickshaw owner at Asan Kunatole on Saturday morning," he said with his eyes full of tears. "But he declined to lend me the rickshaw."
Karki said that YCL cadre Dambar Bahadur Bhujel on Friday had allegedly warned the owner that his rickshaws would be banned if no levy was paid to them.
"I am receiving death threats for lending you my rickshaw," Karki quoted the owner as saying. "Either pay the levy as demanded to Maoists. Else stop taking my rickshaw."
Rickshaw pullers, who pull rickshaws in Thamel, Thahiti, Indra Chowk, Asan Chowk, Hanuman Dhoka, Pakanajol, Sorhakhutte, Lazimpat areas from dawn till dusk, earn some Rs 100 a day on an average. They have to pay Rs 50 a day to their rickshaw owners.
According to Karki, almost all 573 rickshaws plying in the areas have been paying Rs 10 a day as levy to Maoists. "Yes, I have been paying Rs 10 a day as levy to Maoists for the last one and half years," said another rickshaw puller Ram Bahadur Lama. "Else, they will not allow us to ply the rickshaw at all."
Karki said Maoist cadre Bhujel visits them most of the time to collect levy.
Karki said the Maoist policy of demanding donation from workers who toil throughout the day for their living, was wrong.
Karki has six members in his family including his mother in his village. He has been taking shelter in a hut at Old Bus Park in the capital. "I pay Rs 35 a night for shelter," he added. "I get to eat two squares meal only on the day I work. On other days, I end up sleeping without food."
This is not the first time YCL cadres allegedly obstructed him from plying the rickshaw, though. He had to face similar hassles from Maoists some four months ago. "Maoist cadres including Bhujel captured me from Bhotahiti and detained me throughout the day after taking me to their office at Dallu," he said.
Since then, Karki had been working as a porter. He started pulling rickshaw again some three weeks ago.
Talking to the Post, Sagar, Kathmandu Valley in-charge of YCL said he was unaware of levy collection from rickshaw-pullers. He also expressed ignorance about the case related to Karki.
"I also need to inquire about the levy. I have not heard of anyone being obstructed from plying rickshaw," Sagar told over phone from Gulmi.
Left for dead 7 years ago
"I knew that Maoists had left me thinking that I was dead," Karki recalls the harrowing incident that occurred on February 10, 2001. "Luckily, I am alive now."
Some 60 Maoist cadres stormed into his house on the evening of February 9 and demanded food and shelter. Karki rejected the demand for hospitality outright. "I had had a verbal altercation with them in the evening," he said. "They returned from my home threatening retaliation."
Next evening, a large number of Maoist cadres stormed his house and began indiscriminately beating him. "I did not know what happened next to me. I found myself thrown in a bush nearby when I gained consciousness the next morning."
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