Locals declare Satdobato a strike-free intersection

Lalitpur, August 2:

Fed up of frequent strikes and blockades, locals of Satdobato today declared the Satdobato junction a ‘strike-free zone’.

According to locals, the practice of enforcing strikes at the junction, which lies on the Ring Road, gained currency after Jana Andolan II.

Nowadays, even a petty dispute between a passenger and a driver in a neighbourhood sparks hours-long transport strike here, said Babu Ratna Maharjan, president, Satdobato Youth Club.

Strike organisers do not even let ambulances of Patan Hospital, B and B hospital and school vans ply, locals said.

We decided to declare the junction a strike-free zone as the Metropolitan Police Sector at Satdobato failed to deliver during the times of crises, locals said, pointing that agitators and drivers do not obey the police.

Rajendra Khadka, a local and proprietor of the Satdobato-based Nepal Information Technology Centre, said, “It is not the case of business getting affected. During strikes, locals are compelled to breathe air laced with poisonous gases emitting from burning tyres.”

Khadka said, “Before declaring the junction a strike-free zone, Satdobato Youth Club organised rounds of informal discussions with locals and resorted to pamphleting. “Locals assembled today at the junction to protest against the practice of calling strikes every now and then,” he added.

“We will correspond with organisations of transport entrepreneurs to inform them about our decision,” said Maharjan.