Birendranagar - A large number of displaced families here are living under difficult circumstances because the government has not extended any vital relief. Forced to leave home due to the 'People's War', they have not been given any compensation or monthly allowance promised to them. "Since we were chased out of the village by the Maoists, we can't return home. Why is the government unable to help us?" ask refugees of the insurgency from remote areas of Jajarkot, Kalikot, Jumla, Dailekh and Surkhet districts. The number of families displaced by the Maoists has already crossed 5,000 in Birendranagar alone.

"The real Maoist victims have not received anything. Those who benefitted left home voluntarily without being harmed by the Maoists," says Prithvi Bahadur Singh, a villager whose family has been living in extreme poverty for the last 18 months. "There was news on the radio for two days about the Maoists forcing us out of our village but the government hasn't helped us with a single paisa." Singh's family is among the two dozen who abandoned their homes in Kalikot as the rebels' violence escalated. "The problem is that we hardly can afford one meal a day, let alone have enough to pay for our children's education. I wish there was a way for us to go back home," adds Singh.

The government has not established any special relief program for families like Singh's. The people here are disgruntled by the government's recent move to provide immunity and rehabilitation to Maoists who surrender while nothing comes their way. There is no sign of relief despite the government's public announcement that it would provide a monthly allowance of Rs 3,000 to each displaced person.