KATHMANDU: On the wall of the ruined Sundarbasti settlement beneath the Tundaldevi Temple in Chandol, Kathmandu Metropolitan City-4, a white dog sits lost in thought. Sometimes he peers through the collapsed huts; other times he wanders around. His name is Tommy.

While the families of the settlement have moved elsewhere, Tommy remains behind. Every morning and evening, he waits for Junu Thapa, 70, who raised him since he was a puppy.

On April 29, as part of the drive to clear informal settlements along the riverbanks of the Kathmandu Valley, the government used bulldozers on the huts of Sundarbasti near the Tukucha River. The 10 families living there were forced to leave the settlement after that.

The cleared landless settlement in Chandol and inset, Tommy guarding the settlement. Photo: Bidhya Rai

 Some families are staying in temporary camps arranged by the government. A few families have rented rooms, explaining that it became inconvenient for their children to travel to school.

Junu has also left the settlement and moved into a rented room. However, she could not take Tommy along, who had been with her for seven years.

Junu had been living in Sundarbasti since 1986. Working as a domestic helper in a house in Chandol, she brought Tommy home as a puppy and raised him. “He used to sleep with me. He treats me like a mother. I raised him like my own grandson,” she says emotionally.

Junu still remembers the moment when Tommy held her tightly after seeing her cry on the day they had to leave the settlement. “When I told him, ‘They won’t let us live here, you stay right here,’ he held onto me tightly and refused to let go,” she says.

It isn’t that Junu didn’t try to take Tommy with her. But the landlord of the house where she rented a room did not allow dogs. Since there was already a dog at the house where she works, it was not possible to take Tommy there either.

The cleared landless settlement in Chandol. Photo: Bidhya Rai

Since then, she arrives at the ruins every morning and evening carrying food to meet Tommy. Tommy likes lentils and rice, meat, and biscuits. “Even if it rains, I come every morning and evening without fail,” says Junu. Rashmi Khatun of Chandol is amazed to see Junu regularly walking to the settlement with food. She says, “She always makes the trip to feed the dog.”

This routine over the past two months has not been easy for Junu. The worry of what will happen to Tommy on days when she might fall ill and be unable to come constantly haunts her. “His plight has become truly miserable,” she says. “I bring him food morning and evening. But if I fall sick and cannot get up, who will feed him? He doesn’t even have a shelter left in the settlement.”

To make it easier for him to stay at night, Junu has arranged a small space for Tommy in a corner of a collapsed hut. But it is not safe. She says that some people who come there chase Tommy away and harass him.

The cleared landless settlement in Chandol. Photo: Bidhya Rai

Although neighbors occasionally give him food, there is no one to regularly care for Tommy and keep him safe.

Junu says she has also requested the ward office and the community police to rescue Tommy. She is asking for help from acquaintances and everyone she meets.

Having cared for and raised Tommy since he was small, she has also been getting him vaccinated regularly and has kept his vaccination card safe. Now, she is in search of a family, animal rescue organization, or safe shelter that can raise Tommy. “If someone can adopt him, please take him,” she says. “He will be rescued and get proper care.”