Dhangadi, August 28 Life in Kailali district is yet to return to normal due to continuous curfew following violence in Tikapur on Monday. Eight police personnel, including Seti Zonal Police Chief SSP Laxman Neupane, and a two-year-old boy were killed in the incident when the agitating cadres of Tharuhat supporters attacked them on Monday. The local administration has declared as many as 10 VDCs, including Tikapur, a riot-hit zone and clamped curfew ever since, while in Dhangadi has been under curfew from 11:00am to 5:00pm for the past three days to abort any untoward incident. A large number of security personnel have been deployed in the VDCs to maintain peace and order. Locals complained that their daily activities had been hit due to the continuous curfew. Mohan Sharma, former General Secretary of Kailali Chamber of Commerce, said business houses were incurring a loss of millions of rupees each day due to the closure of all large/small-scale industries and trading units in the district. Rickshaw-puller Bhagiram Chaudhary said the daily wage labourers were facing a hard time for want of source of income. “I am worried how to feed children and elderly at home,” Chaudhary said. Hundreds of students have been deprived of their right to education. A large amount of vegetables, fruit, and dairy products have been wasted due to the continuous curfew, said dairy operator Deepak Khadka. The strike in Kailali has been on for a month now. The youths from Tikapur, Joshipur, Manikapur, Kanchanpur, Munuwa, Durgauli, among other areas, have started to migrate from their locality feeling unsafe. They have been taking shelter with their kin at Lamki, Dhangadi, Bardiya, Rajapur, among other places. Tikapur incident has created a rift among the Tharu community and migrant people from hill areas who were living harmoniously for years, said Lal Bahadur Bam of Joshipur. Lalit Kunwar of Munuwa, Kailali, said the hidden interests of community leaders had victimised people from both the communities. “We had cordial and harmonious relationship among the people of both the communities. Political leaders sowed seeds of mistrust and split,” said Puna Ram Chaudhary of Dhansinghpur, Kailali. Youths revealed that they were obliged to take part in protests, as the leaders had threatened to charge Rs 1,000 from each household who did not take part in the movement. Nepali Congress Kailali leader Nrip Bahadur Bud said his party preferred creating a conducive atmosphere for dialogue, while UCPN-Maoist’s former lawmaker Birman Chaudhary said leaders and people from both the communities should sit for talks at the earliest to strengthen social harmony.