Siraha, August 27:

The one-day Nepal bandh called by the Dalit Janajati Party (DJP) affected life in different parts of the country today.

The party’s nine-point list of demands includes a call for a round-table conference of all parties, suspension of the interim parliament and the formation of an interim government for holding the constituent assembly (CA) polls.

Vehicles remained off the roads in Siraha district. A five-day bandh called by the Madhesi Mukti Tigers (MMT) and that ended today had already thrown life out of gear in the district. Transport services were about to resume when the DJP bandh froze the sector again. Though the impact of today’s bandh was marginal in the district headquarters it was total in Lahan, Golbazaar, Ramnagar and Mirchaiya.

In Udayapur district, transport services, factories, business establishments, offices and educational institutions remained closed. The cement factory at Jaljale in Gaighat also remained closed. Factory officials said the plant is incurring a loss of lakhs of rupees daily due to the closure.

Due to the five-day bandh, the prices of green vegetables and items of daily use have skyrocketed. The prices of sugar, dal, white flour, rice and edible oils have shot up by 30 per cent, locals said.

In Sarlahi, DJP cadres blocked the Nawalpur section of East-West highway since morning. Sarlahi DJP president Bishendra Paswan said the blockade was organised to press the government to fulfil the party’s demands before the CA polls.

Deputy superintendent of police in Sarlahi, Ganesh KC, said DJP cadres did not let even ambulances ply. He added that talks were on with the party to reopen the highway.

The DJP bandh threw things out of gear on the eve of Janai Purnima and thousands of devotees who had come to Nawalpur bazaar to celebrate the event were forced to hang in limbo.

In Saptari, transport services did not operate, while schools, colleges, factories, industrial plants and medicine shops remained closed.

DJP cadres placed boulders on the road at Bishnupur chowk, stranding more than 100 vehicles from the east bound for Kathmandu.

Students hold rally

RAJBIRAJ: Hundreds of students in Saptari on Monday took out a rally to protest the break in their studies caused by bandhs, including the five-day Madhesi Mukti Tigers bandh. The Private and Boarding Schools Organisation of Nepal (PABSON) organised the rally that went round town. PABSON’s Saptari president Kumar Pathak said the students staged the rally to protest the disturbance in studies caused by the MMT. — HNS