KATHMANDU, April 29: The chief of the endangered Raute community, who lived a nomadic life in the forests, Surya Narayan Shahi, has passed away.
Lal Bahadur Khatri, a partner teacher working with the Raute community from the organization Social Service Center (SOSEC), said that he died on Monday night at around 9:30 pm.
He died due to excessive alcohol consumption. The Raute community has three chiefs, each representing one of the community’s three clans. Surya Narayan belonged to the Kalyal clan and became a chief in 2015.
The Raute community is currently living in two separate locations. Shahi was leading one group residing in Sotkhola, located in Barahatal Rural Municipality-8 of Surkhet. The other group, with two chiefs, is living in Karekhola of Birendranagar-13. The total population of the Raute community has now decreased to 135.