Teachers, students, political party workers and traders have been staging sit-in protest at the customs office, inflicting loss of tens of millions of rupees in revenue.
Nepalgunj Customs Office targets to collect revenue worth Rs 2.45 billion during the current fiscal year.[break]
Pashupati Dayal Mishra, co-coordinator of the Struggle Committee for University, vowed to continue their protest unless the Nepalgunj University Bill is presented before the parliament for discussion.
Though the government had formed a team led by Janardan Nepal, joint secretary of the Ministry of Education, to settle the problem, members of the committee refused to sit for talks.
“By forming a team under a joint-secretary to hold talks on issue that involves such a crucial bill, the government has showed that it is not serious in resolving the problem. Hence, we´ve decided to continue our protest," said Mishra.
Showing solidarity to the agitation, political parties are leading the stir turn by turn, bringing regular business at the customs to a grinding halt.
Due to the agitation, imports of goods, including crucial items like petroleum products and food grains, have come to a standstill. More than 100 trucks and tankers loaded with fuel and food items have been stranded along Rupedia-Jamuna road near Nepal-India border for the last three days.
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