Mahottari, October 2

Media houses in Mahottari district have been hit hard due to an indefinite general strike imposed by the United Madhesi Democratic Front for the past one-and-a-half months.

The media outlets in the district are finding it hard to operate due to acute shortage of petroleum products and printing papers among others. Many of the media outlets rely on generators due to power cuts.

For instance, Bardibas Daily Newspaper is struggling to operate due to a lack of printing papers. Likewise, nine FM radio stations in the district have been forced to halt their operations due to shortage of petroluem products.

Ajaya Kumar Sah, station manager of Radio Gaushla, said although his radio station is running on solar power, some other radios were struggling to operate in lack of petrol to run generators.

Bikram Rauniyar, secretary of the Federation of Nepali Journalists, Mahottari, who also works with local Mountain Television, said that they are finding it hard to collect news reports for want of petrol to run vehicles. The FNJ secretary

said that three daily newspapers are operating in the district, seven weekly newspapers and nine FM radio stations.