People from Shauka community, who had migrated to Khalanga—the district headquarters of Darchula district—to avoid the cold, have started to climb up to higher areas after the onset of summer season.

Shauka folk spend their summer in the mountainous areas and migrate to Khalanga during winter.

Dan Singh Tinkari from the community said that they have a tradition to migrate to warmer places with their children and livestock every year to escape the cold.

Shauka people have been living at Tinkar and Chharung settlements in the high mountainous region of Byas Rural Municipality-1 for a long time. But since there’s no roadway facility to travel to Khalanga from their settlements, they have to cross though Indian territory to reach the district headquarters.

Ashok Singh Bohara, ward chairman of Byas Rural Municipality-1, said that only around 450 Shauka people have received recommendations from the local administration to travel to Khalanga.

“They also have to take permission from Indian authorities to pass Indian territory,” Bohara said.

Lately, Indian authorities have tightened security in the area due to which Shauka people are facing trouble while moving back to Byas. However, Dan Singh Tinkari, a resident of Tinkar, said that he hopes they can travel through the Indian territory without any hassle after the results of the Lok Sabha elections finalise in a week.

Villagers said they have to take permission from authorities to take their livestock with them.

Basu Aitalwal, a resident of Chharung, said that they are only allowed to take their livestock with them after personnel from the Animal Quarantine Office test the health conditions of the animals.  

Shauka people usually migrate back to the Byas area within mid-April. But this year they have started late because of massive snowfall in the mountainous region during

winter. Mohan Singh Tinkari, a resident of Tinkar, said that there’s still snow accumulated in Chharung and Tinkar. “We have started our migration back late because there’s still snow in our settlements,” Tinkari said.