A decision not to allow non-political bandas was made on November 8 last year, but banda callers have taken no notice. “It has definitely reduced the number of accident-related strikes significantly, but we have records of numerous seemingly un-political strikes in the period,” says chief of Chitwan District Police SP Gyan Bikram Shah. [break]
There have been 14 accident-related strikes since, with the first taking place on November 21, barely 15 days after the decision. Treacherous bandas lasting around 15 hours seeking unreasonable compensation after accidents have also been enforced, but Shah says these long bandas have been enforced only three times in the period.
“There have been 40 accidents in the period and all of them would have led to strikes in times before the decision. But only 14 of the accidents resulted in bandas due to the decision,” Shah explains.
Accident-related strikes aside, there has been no significant impact of the decision reached through consensus of the political parties and organizations, as well as the police, due to the insistence of political parties to enforce their bandas.
Police have records of nine such bandas affecting 27 days since January 6. All but one political bandas were called according to central policies of the parties. The recent banda called by the Tharus was enforced for a whopping 12 days, marking it the longest strike in the period.
There have also been several strikes for trivial reasons during the period. For instance, a strike was called in Pipple, Chitwan, to release a driver from the village after his arrest in relation to an accident in Simara, Bara. “The locals even resorted to strikes when the traffic police started to fine motorcyclists without helmets,” Shah informs.
Eight bandas have been called on such trivial issues, with a banda called by a canal committee taking the cake. “The police have been unable to enforce the decision despite our wholehearted support,” blames Chitwan´s president of the Nepali Congress Ram Krishna Ghimire, conveniently ignoring instances of non-political strikes called by his party.
The Nepali Congress and its student wing, Nepal Students´ Union, recently called a one-day banda in Chitwan protesting the murder of a builder. A two-hour strike on the same issue protesting against the police´s failure to nab the murderer was enforced on Tuesday resulting in the vandalism of several unaware taxis.
Related story
Himalayan black bears under threat in Jumla
