Displaced ethnic Nepalis fume over Bhutan’s ‘mindfulness city’ plan

Bhutan’s plan for southern farmlands has sparked outrage among forced-out ethnic Nepalis, who say the megaproject would be on stolen land

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Bhutan, a Himalayan nation of fewer than 800,000 people, is pitching its Gelephu Mindfulness City project as “a sanctuary for global businesses and professionals”. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 1:30pm, 1 Dec 2024Updated: 8:02am, 2 Dec 2024

Bhutan’s ambitious plan to transform its southern farmlands into a futuristic “mindfulness city” has sparked outrage among displaced ethnic Nepalis, who accuse the government of building the megaproject on stolen land.

Envisioned by King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck, the 2,500 sq km (965 square mile) Gelephu Mindfulness City is meant to serve as an economic corridor, promote sustainable living and become home to some 150,000 people in the next decade.

However, ethnic Nepalis like 54-year-old Krishna Bir Tamang – who was forcibly evicted from southern Bhutan 32 years ago and has been living as a refugee in Nepal ever since – are unlikely to be part of the kingdom’s multimillion-dollar vision.

“We still have our land there and possess legal documents,” said Tamang, who is among the 6,300 or so Bhutanese refugees still living in Nepal who hope to be repatriated to their ancestral home.

“We didn’t resettle in a third country because we are bona fide citizens of Bhutan. The Bhutanese government should have resolved the issue of its people first before developing the mindfulness city.”

Bhutanese refugees walk in the Beldangi refugee camp in Damak, Nepal. Photo: AFP

The eviction of the Lhotshampas – meaning “southern borderlanders” – began in 1989 and continued into the early 1990s after Bhutan’s enactment of citizenship laws that discriminated against ethnic Nepalis. The government’s “one nation, one people” policy forced more than 100,000 of them into neighbouring Nepal, with the majority resettled in third countries between 2007 and 2016.