Bara, April 7:

Owing to the four-day general strike, the Chimnimai fair which kicked off at Chimnimai of Kalaiya municipality-7 on Thursday, has failed to pulls crowd this year, said Rakesh Pandey, a local. Pandey recalled that the annual fair used to attract people from Kalaiya and Birgunj. Another fair underway in Simraungarh has also been affected, said Ram Chandra Raut.

“The conflict had not affected the fair, but the general strike did,” said another local Sunil Kumar Jha. While about 15,000 people visited the Chimnimai fair, 50,000 people visited the Simraungarh fair last year. This year, however, only 5,000 people and 10,000-15,000 people are expected to visit the Chimnimai and Simraungarh fairs, respectively.