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Students protesting on the streets of Kathmandu. Photos: Smita
Kathmandu, June 24, 2008- Normal life across the nation has been paralyzed as public vehicles stayed off the road on Tuesday for the second consecutive day following the nationwide indefinite strike called by transport entrepreneurs on Monday.
The transport strike is in opposition to the decision by the Ministry of Labor and Transport Management (MoLTM) last week to increase fares on public transport by 25 percent on top of the base rates fixed two years ago.
They are demanding that the government raise fares by an additional 25 to 35 percent.
The transporters have been holding talks with the government since early morning after failing to reach an understanding on Monday as both parties remained inflexible. However, until midnight they had not reached any understanding on Tuesday either, further complicating the plight of normal life for the public.
In Kathmandu valley, there were no public vehicles seen on the road all day whereas on a normal day the roads are crowded. Only a few private vehicles, rickshaws and cycles were seen.
In Pokhara, half a dozen tourist buses were vandalized by agitating transporters saying they disobeyed their call for strike. The buses were headed for Kathmandu carrying tourists from Korea and other countries. In this incident, one tourist was reported hurt.
From last Thursday, Kathmandu valley and other neighboring districts are facing overlapping strikes called by transport entrepreneurs, student unions, and other parties opposing the price hike on POL (Petroleum, Oil, Lubricants).
Protest against petroleum products' price hike.
Eight political party-affiliated student unions staged strikes through Sunday demanding 50 percent fare discount.. On Monday morning they reached an agreement when the government agreed to a 45 percent discount on public vehicles for students with valid IDs. Before that the government had declared only 43 percent discount in the fare for students.
At the same time, there are ongoing protests in other parts of the country by school children who are demanding textbooks.
The increase in price of petroleum products has not only sparked protests from students and the transport entrepreneurs but also from petroleum dealers after the new fuel price was implemented.
The Nepal Petroleum Dealers’ Association (NPDA) has been carrying out a series of protests since June 19, demanding the government ease fuel supply at the earliest and implement the agreements reached between the NPDA and the Nepal Oil Corporation in the past.
These strikes and bandhs called by different parties are adding intensive woes to the general public at the start of this Federal Republic of Nepal with sky rocketing prices for food products as well.
-Smita Magar in Kathmandu
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