KATHMANDU, Nepal- Bandh has become the culture of Nepalese people in the recent days. Normally political parties and their sister wings call on general shut down even to fulfill their mean desires.
All together, the country witnessed 57 days of bandhs (general shut down) in one-year period between September 2012 and August 2013, a latest survey revealed.
Of these bandhs, 45 per cent took place due to political reasons, 22 percent occurred to protest deaths and accidents while 33 percent due to other reasons such as religious conflicts and social problems, says a survey carried out by livablenepal.org.
Those bandhs extended from one to five consecutive days, brought down a loss of an estimated Rs 1.7 billion on the economy on each day.
Most of those bandhs were organised by political parties and their sister organisations, mostly student wings.
According to survey umbrella organisations of the private sector, including chapters of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry also imposed bandhs to fulfill their demand.
Morang and Jhapa located in the east reason witnessed up to 30 days of bandhs in the one year period. These shutdowns took place mainly due to protests launched by Sanghiya Limbuwan Rajya Parishad, an ethnic group waging war in the eastern parts of the country.
The frequency of bandhs has gradually increased with the Nepalese people facing its first Nepal bandh on February 19 in nine months after the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly in May last year.
Just three days ago, a bus full of passengers making its journey from Kathmandu to Melamchi on Sunday was torched at Dhulikhel in Kavre district along the Araniko Highway as it defied a Tamsaling bandh call by the CPN-Maoist.
