The Beda Budaga Jangala community of Karimnagar district is spending anxious moments as there is no information on the state of 200 of its members who are believed to be affected by the earthquake that rocked Nepal. These people belonging to Ramakrishna Colony in Thimmapur mandal had migrated to Kathmandu and other places in the Himalayan country in search of a livelihood.
Traditionally, the Beda Budaga Jangala community are astrologers and sell herbs and gemstones. In Nepal, however, they are said to be functioning even as sanitation workers since several decades. The 200 people in question were last seen in Karimnagar during the Integrated Household Survey of August 2014. After their return to Nepal, only the elderly and children have remained in Ramakrishna Colony and they are worried about the well being of the near and dear ones.
“Tourists from India patronise us,” stated Jangaiah, a Beda Budaga Jangam, who cancelled his ticket to Kathmandu following the natural calamity. “Many of us work near the temples in the Nepalese capital,” he added.
Talking to The Hindu on Sunday, Ramakrishna Colony sarpanch Kinnara Saraiah, who also belongs to the Beda Budaga Jangala community, said there was no communication from the migrants since Saturday when tremors struck. “Their aged parents and children are a worried lot,” he reiterated.
Mr. Saraiah said, according to preliminary information, some of the migrants were injured in the earthquake. “As their relatives are pressurising me to initiate measures to bring the injured and others back, I have informed the village revenue officer and also the local legislator, Rasamayi Balakishan, about the same,” he said.
Over 200 members of the Beda Budaga Jangala community, who are eking out their livelihood in Nepal, are feared to be affected by the earthquake and their kin are worried