Have Your Say: Baggage of blockade

The Indian blockade hasn’t been lifted. But thanks to black marketing, we have some petrol in our motorbikes to get to work and back, and a half cylinder of LPG to cook food at home. Never mind the fact that our bank accounts are steadily dwindling and at this rate, will be all gone by the end of the month. The government, on the other hand, seems to be content with the fact that the citizens have so easily adapted to the situation – a situation they are in no mood to rectify. “What can you do when you have such an ineffective government?” says Sunita Sharma, 37, who runs a pharmacy in New Road. Sharma believes that the people who pride themselves for being a part of the so called ‘government’ of Nepal should not bring more shame upon themselves by remaining unaffected by the problem at hand. “They are slowly losing face,” she says and the people The Week spoke to regarding this issue seem to agree.

Monisha Gurung, 22
sales executive

This situation is ludicrous. Our country is one of the least developed countries in the world. We already had enough problems without the Indian Blockade adding to our miseries. Now the situation is beyond bearable. The government needs to be alert and responsive. This problem has been going on for too long for the authorities to turn a deaf ear to the citizens anymore. What I also don’t understand is why people are putting up with it. We should be out protesting and creating a scene. We can’t afford to remain silent any longer. But I guess people have, more or less, given up on hoping that things will change. It’s a failed government that we have here. First they took forever to come up with a Constitution, and now they are failing to address the issues and make the necessary amendments. The government doesn’t care because they are not going through the same hardships that the people have been facing for months now.

Shiva Kumar Karki, 26
businessman

The government should stop fooling its people by saying they are sitting down for serious discussions. We don’t care for discussions unless they come up with a solution. The Madhesis have my sympathies, they have been sidelined for so long and even the new constitution didn’t put an end to their grievances. But that doesn’t give them the rights to disrupt ordinary citizen’s lives. There are decent, more humane ways of protesting than what they are doing at the moment. Currently there is rampant black marketing and life has become unfair depending on your economic status. Those who can afford it buy petrol for Rs 300 – Rs 500 per liter and cooking gas for five times its actual price but it’s those who can’t afford to part with that kind of cash who suffer day in and day out. What are the Madhesis, or the Indian government for that matter, gaining by this blockade? The people they are trying to pressurize don’t care because they are not affected by it.

Sony Shrestha, 22
salesperson

Every sector, every aspect of life has been affected by this Indian blockade. Life was already hard and now it’s even more so. There is no cooking gas at home and because of load shedding using electric cookers isn’t an option either. Many transformers have exploded in the past few weeks and the government urges people not to use high voltage electrical equipments, but what can we do? People have to eat, don’t they? It’s high time this issue is sorted out. The Madhesis need to be heard, and only then will our lives return to normal. We talk about the Indian blockade but due to black marketing life seems to be normal. Which makes you think, doesn’t it? Despite the blockage, we are not facing acute shortage. What is the government doing in this case? And while the rest of the nations around the world are developing more and more, we are becoming regressive with each passing day. Firewood for fuel? Let’s go back to the stone ages, shall we?

Pulan Manandhar, 21
student

I stayed in line for two nights for a half cylinder of cooking gas. Now again there is no LPG at home and we have to resort to other means. Nepal already had too many problems and this Indian blockade has made things worse. It seems like I’m living in a godforsaken country where unless you are extremely rich, you aren’t allowed to live a decent life. The government, so far, has done zilch. If it wanted to solve this problem, it would have done something concrete by now. The fact that they haven’t come up with a solution means they are not taking it seriously. And why would they? It’s not like this blockade is troubling them in any way. I regret having stayed in Nepal while my friends went abroad, either for work or studies. I abhor the fact that we have to pay tax to a government that provides us nothing in return.