"What can we do although there is a strike?" questioned Sudha Mainali, who was walking to Bir Hospital from Samakhushi area. "My father is ill and I have no option but to walk," she said. Sudha's father Dambar Mainali was admitted to the hospital last week for treatment of intestinal ailment.
The nationwide general strike enforced by CPN-Maoist led 33-party Front and various Madhes-centric parties today is just another in a series of such strikes that is taking its toll of the general public particularly the daily wage earners.
The general strike has thrown normal life out of gear with scattered number of passenger vehicles plying the road making it an uphill task for the people to take a ride on it.
The vehicles are charging exorbitantly with fees ranging from Rs 15 to Rs 20 to Rs 30 while the government authorities focus is diverted somewhere else. Many people have chosen to walk as it is too risky to use their personal vehicles and motorbikes.
Oli says he is likely to be prime minister again if chaos conti...
In the morning hours, agitators attacked a vehicle carrying journalist Rishi Dhamala. Although the police authorities are trying their best to curtail such violent acts of vandalism and attack, it has proven to be largely ineffective.
Agitation has been flaring up in many parts of the country with already three demonstrators killed after the parties brought a draft of the proposed delineation of the provincial borders. The chief demands of the agitators making headlines include the demand for Tarai-Madhes centered provincial state, integrated far west province, integrated mid west province and a separate Karnali provincial state.
In midst of the ensuing turmoil, the 'Bibeksheel Nepali' party and various other organizations today held a rally with slogans as 'Nepal Bandh, until when? Until when will we remain silent?' They have pressed the agitating parties to seek an alternative to the crippling shutdown.
The volunteers stand up on every general strike demanding an alternative to this form of agitation, the campaign's member Pukar Bam said.
The campaigners today held peaceful protests at the Maitighar Mandala in Kathmandu and other parts of the country from 10 am to 11 am. They were flagging the vehicles and motorbikes plying to road to thank them for defying the shutdown.
The party's Executive Affair Chief Arjun Singh Thakuri said the youths had opened schools in Jhapa and helped create an environment to defy the strike in Pokhara. "There should be an alternative to strike. The strikes will ambush the country's entrepreneurship and culture," he said.
Text : RSS
Photos: Tek Narayan Bhattarai, Pratik Rayamajhi and Dinesh Gole
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