Magh 6, Butwal. Gopal Gurung, the coordinator of Susta Bachaon Abhiyan, has lacked funds for his treatment.
62-year-old Gurung, who has been campaigning for 24 years to save Nepalese land in the slums of Nawalparasi West, which is under the grip of Indian encroachment, has suffered a brain injury and is being treated in the hospital for almost a month.
Gurung of Susta Rural Municipality-5 is being treated at Universal Medical College in Bhairawa. The family members have pleaded for help from the government saying that there is a problem in treatment due to lack of finances.
Pasand Gurung, Gurung’s daughter, said that after the funds for the 28-day hospitalization and treatment ran out, a 5-member team was formed for financial collection.
“My father has been fighting with the Indian side for years to protect the country’s land from encroachment. He was even imprisoned in India for a year,” said Pasand.
One of Gopal’s sons is in Dubai for foreign employment and one daughter is studying in class 11. Eldest daughter Pasand said that since the family’s financial condition is weak, she expects help from government agencies in treatment.
Rabindra Bania, a local resident who started raising his voice against encroachment by sitting in Susta after retiring from service because he witnessed Indian encroachment there when he was an employee of the Nepal Police.
Since the year 2062, at the instigation of the SSB, by sending Indian citizens to intensify the encroachment, Gurung has been conducting the Susta Bachau campaign since the same year and has been pressuring the government to stop the encroachment and demand the return of the occupied land.
“Indian security personnel raised a false case against India’s encroachment and sent them to jail for a year,” Bania said.
India has encroached 14,500 hectares out of the total 40,980 hectares of Susta’s land. India has been calling 19,480 hectares disputed. Because of this, even though it is Nepali land, it is not possible to practice Bhog, said Rabindra Jaiswal, the spokesperson of Susta Bachau Abhiyaan. At present, Susta residents have been cultivating only 7,000 hectares.
According to Universal Medical College Bhairahawa, Gurung’s health condition is complicated as he has cerebral palsy along with pneumonia, kidney and liver problems.
