A West Sikkim family struggles to prove identity

ANAND OBEROI
GANGTOK, 27 Nov: 33-year-old Subash Chandra Gurung from Dentam in West Sikkim is a man in a dilemma because even after running from pillar to post for the past two years, he has still not been able to give himself and his family a proof of identity, not even a voters ID which would prove that he is a resident of Sikkim and was born and brought up here. The West DC’s office has assured to look into his case favourably, but the story is recounted here to highlight a peculiar situation which might not be very rare in Sikkim.
Mr. Gurung, the eldest of four brothers and a sister, was born in Dentam to Dil Bahadur Gurung and Pem Diki Sherpa. His father had come to Sikkim from Nepal in the 1940s and had settled down eventually at Dentam Tar in 1977. The father died of a prolonged illness some years back in Dentam which left Mr. Gurung, his younger siblings and his ailing mother to fend for themselves.
“My mother is a Sikkim Subject Certificate holder and a resident of Bega ward under Kaluk Police Station in West Sikkim; unfortunately my father did not make any papers that would guarantee his family security after he was gone which has left us in a condition where we cannot avail any facilities, nor make a modest living because we do not have any papers, not even birth certificates that would help us in the present day,” Mr. Gurung narrates.
His mother too has taken ill while Mr. Gurung himself suffers from stomach ailments. One of his younger brothers, 21-year-old Babel Gurung died in a road accident in 2004. While other families who lost their dear ones in the same accident were provided ex-gratia, his family did not receive any ex-gratia due to the lack of any documents to prove their identity.
 “I dropped out of school because after my father died I was required to help my ailing mother to provide for the rest of my family. Without proper documents, continuing to study would also not help since the school authorities were asking me to provide a birth certificate at least. The same situation has now come upon my nephews and my youngest brother who is now being asked to submit documents of identification to continue studying. I do not know what to do now and have promised my mother that I will do something before I go back to Dentam,” he says.
He says that approaching the media is his last attempt since he has lost all hope in trying to convince people in government offices. He has already acquired a Panchayat recommendation that says that he and his family have been residing in Dentam since 1977 and has also got school certificates of himself and his other siblings proving that they were students of that school, a document he needed to get himself a birth certificate, which was also later denied to him.
“I got the documents needed for the birth certificate from the school but when I went to Dentam PHC, a person there alleged that I had bribed my way to get the said school papers and the Panchayat recommendation. I never got my birth certificate,” he says.
Mr. Gurung who is, at present, living with his siblings and his mother in a rented house at Dentam Tar has lost everything he had in his two-year long endeavor to get himself and his family some documents that would help make their lives easier.
He also mentions that the previous DC West had asked him to come to his office in the month of October so that he could enroll his name in the voters list for the recently concluded Panchayat elections.
“When I went to the office in October, I directed to the concerned official for the voter ID at the district collectorate, however, the officer there refused to enroll my name since I did not have any documents to prove that I am Subash Chandra Gurung. My father did not make the papers because he was illiterate and for reasons he understood best, but now that has led us all into a state where we cannot live our lives with dignity and respect. We have become outsiders even when we were born and have lived here our entire lives,” he rues.
Meanwhile, when NOW! contacted the DC [West], LP Chettri, and told him about Subash Chandra Gurung’s ordeal, the DC asked Subash to meet him soon and also assured that the district administration would look into his case and bring about a concrete solution soon.