The NC parliamentary party leader had to suddenly rush to Chitwan district where his mother Hrishimaya, 90, breathed her last at 10 am Monday. [break]
But life across the country was crippled by the banda; most vehicles stayed off the roads, while major thoroughfares, factories, shops, and schools remained closed till 4 pm.
A grief-stricken Paudel had to seek police escorting to Chitwan, all the way from Kathmandu, to perform the funeral rites of his nonagenarian mother.
Poudel is the eldest son of Hrishimaya. Another of her sons Ojraj Paudel, who was in Tanahun on Monday, also could not immediately make it to Devghat, a confluence of three holy rivers -- Kali Gandaki, Seti Gandaki and Trishuli -- where the locals cremate the bodies.
The locals had taken the body to the river bank at 1 pm, but they had to wait for the Paudel duo for three hours at the Ghat to perform the funeral rites including cremation.
The party cadres had reached the place to attend the funeral only after the general strike ended at 4 pm.
The grand old party had enforced a general strike demanding that the government declare its murder-accused cadre Shiva Paudel, who succumbed to injuries he had received during an attack in Bharatpur jail on December 6, a martyr and withdraw the murder charge against him.
The banda was withdrawn at 4 pm after the government said it was positive about the NC demands.
Hrishimaya, whose husband died 22 years ago, is survived by five sons and five daughters. The family members say her after-death rituals will be conducted for 13 days as per the Hindu tradition.
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