Call off disruptions: Private sector

Go tell the govt: Tarai-Madhes leaders

KATHMANDU/BHAIRAHAWA, Sept 10: Private sector representatives who went all the way to Bhairahawa to request protesting Tarai-Madhes-based parties to call of their bandhas and protests, returned empty-handed as the protesting parties rejected their plea.

Instead, leaders of the protesting groups shifted the blame for the disruptions to the government, saying the main parties were not listening to their voices.

"We cannot call off our protests," was the message Tarai-Madhes leaders relayed to the private sector representatives, asking them to pressurize the government to sit for talks.

Even when the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) representatives threatened to pull down the shutters of their job-generating industrial units there, the protesting leaders did not budge.

The leaders, however, said they were ready to sit for talks with the government. It has been 25 days since different parts of the country started seeing a series of bandhas and disruptions that have crippled the economy and caused loses of billions of rupees.

Both the government and protesting parties are not sensitive about the impact on the economy, FNCCI President Pashupati Murarka told Republica after returning to Kathmandu.

The FNCCI team is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Sushil Koirala on Thursday morning, planning to remind the government about critical situation that the country is in.

In Bhairahawa, Murarka handed the protesting leaders a memorandum asking them to call off their protest programs.

The economy, hemorrhage bleeding since the devastating earthquake of April, has again been trapped by political wrangling, this time between the government and the Tarai-Madhes-based parties.

According to a study, a day of bandha causes a Rs 2.5-billion loss to the country.

The country has already lost around Rs 63 billion -- almost equal to its annual exports receipt -- during the 25 day bandha this month.

Imports through India have been stuck along the border -- at the customs point in Birgunj, Nepal-made products remain in their warehouses waiting for transport services to resume, and the nearing festive season is going to be expensive beyond the imagination of the people.

Likewise, millions of students have missed school, sick people have been unable to reach hospitals, and tourists who were already here have been shut in their hotel rooms in Tarai due to bandha.

In Tuesday's talks, held at the Siddharthanagar Chamber of Commerce in Bhairahawa, Murarka requested protesting leaders to exercise their rights without curtailing others'. He also asked the protesters to respect the rights of the people to work and chose their profession, and the rights of the industry to operate freely.

Meanwhile, the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) has also requested the protesting parties to respect the rights of people while exercising their rights to protest.