Life becomes intolerable in Far-West as bandh enters Day 12

Normal life has become paralysed in Far-West region as the bandh (strike) enforced by various political parties and professional groups entered 12th day on Tuesday.

Although the government on Monday formed a three-member committee headed by Deputy Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Situala to hold talks with the groups agitating with the demand for 'undivided Far-West', the bandh organisers largely turned a deaf ear to government’s call for dialogue.

The victims of the bandh are mostly general public who face shortage of food materials and medicines and have been restricted from travelling as both short and long route transportation have either ceased to operate entirely or are very few.

Reports say hospitals have also run out of medicines and face closure while shops in the market are devoid of essential commodities.

The bandh is being enforced by the joint struggle committee, comprising various political parties, civil society and professional organisation.

Although one of the groups in the struggle committee welcomed the government talks offer and decided to suspend the bandh in Kailali from Tuesday, other groups continued to impose the bandh in towns like Dhangadi and Tikapur without clearly putting forth their demands.

The top leaders of the three major parties had also renewed the call to withdraw the shutdown on Saturday, but it failed to impress the agitators. Reports say flights to few important airports remain cancelled for days as the protesters have padlocked the entrance of the airport. nepalnews.com