Except for eight truckloads of rice that reached the district after the Maoist strike was lifted last week, no additional food supply has reached the district. [break]
Santosh Khatiwada, chairman of Taplejung Chamber of Commerce and Industries, said there is no rice, beaten rice, oil, and sugar left in the local market.
Frequent strikes in eastern districts have also led to severe shortage of cooking gas in Taplejung. With kerosene supplies also depleting fast, it is becoming difficult to cook food even on kerosene stoves.
With vehicles not arriving in the district owing to strikes elsewhere, supplies are going from bad to worse every day, according to Khatiwada. “It is difficult to find even one sack of rice in the market,” he said.
It takes at least a week for supplies to reach Taplejung from Jhapa district. But strikes that are being enforced in eastern Nepal every other day are stopping the vehicles carrying supplies along the road.
The strikes called by a variety of groups have severely affected people living in the eastern hills. It has also affected businesses in the region.
But Taplejung has been hit the hardest by the strikes. In the past one month alone, the district was shut down for 18 days by the Maoists. Just four days after shutting down the district on December 20 through 22, the Maoists shut down the district for 15 consecutive days.
The Maoists, who had enforced the 15-day strike to protest the killing of their cadre, lifted the strike on January 11. But a day later, Rastriya Janamorcha enforced a strike for a whole day.
And again, an indefinite strike called by the Limbuwan State Council (LSC) from Saturday in neighboring Ilam has affected Taplejung, apart from Paanchthar district. Though the strike itself has not affected Taplejung, it has prevented supplies from Jhapa from reaching the district.
The strike was called by LSC demanding the release of its workers Raj Rai and Pravin Phago, who were arrested by police in Sunmai, Jhapa, three days ago. The LSC has not allowed any vehicle, barring ambulances and hearses, to ply.
These days, all it takes for the eastern hilly districts to shut down is hearsay. The strike enforced by LSC was similar in nature. The LSC suddenly called a strike on Saturday, accusing the administration of arresting its workers. The LSC then said the strike is indefinite.
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