Eastern Tarai reeling under strikes

HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE

ITAHARI: Life in eastern Tarai has been adversely affected due to a bandh called by Tharu Joint Struggle Committee demanding three federal states in the Tarai, on the fourth day of the strike today.

Residents in Sunsari, Morang, Jhapa, Saptari and Siraha districts bore the brunt of the shutdown as vehicles stayed off the road in most areas and schools, colleges and businesses remained shut.

In Itahari, Sunsari, bandh enforcers did not even allow motorcycles to ply. Biratnagar Bazaar, Morang, opened after 4 pm, as per an earlier agreement among stakeholders to not to enforce strikes in the area in the evening.

A pressure group calling itself Struggle Committee for National Integrity and Harmony, which has called an indefinite bandh from today, organised a motorcycle rally in the city.

Most factories in the Sunsari-Morang industrial corridor have been compelled to reduce production due to the bandh.

In Udaypur, businesspersons based in Beltar opened their shops defying the Tharu Struggle Committee’s bandh. Factories and education institutions also remained open, except in Gaighat. But transportation services were halted across the district. Likewise, market places in Katari, Rampur, Murkuchi, Saune remained open, police said.

Bandh enforcers vandalised two buses belongs to Himal Transport Company parked on the banks of Baruwa River yesterday night. In Sarlahi, Tharu activists halted traffic on the Nawalpur-Malangawa road section today as well. A report from Jhapa said that life across the district was thrown out of gear.

In Sankhuwasabha, locals demonstrated demanding an undivided district while. Life in Khadbari and Chainpur has been affected due to a bandh called by the local chambers of commerce and industry. Government offices were also affected due to the strike.

Likewise, locals in Dhankuta demonstrated on the second day of a general strike demanding that the district be declared regional headquarters. Businesses, education institutions, and factories remained closed across the district.