Karimnagar street astrologers go missing in Nepal quake

They are the street vendors for gem stones, herbs and also face readers. About 200 of them working around Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu are among those caught in Saturday's quake and gone missing since.

They all belong to the Beda Budaga Jangala community of Karimnagar district living in the 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 is about the astrologers who 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 patronize 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.

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.

Saraiah said, according to preliminary information, some of the migrants were injured in the earthquake. “As their relatives are pressurizing 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.