Rautahat, February 9
Rautahat Chamber of Commerce and Industry has decided to close all business establishments across the district, protesting the high-handedness of the police administration.
In a statement jointly issued by the organisation's Chairperson Pandit Prasad Jayasawal and General Secretary Rabindranath Gopali, they have accused the local police administration of terrorising the business and in-dustry fraternity in the name of market monitoring and interest hike by the government, leading to the disruption of the business environment.
"For the past few days, police and administration have been raiding and sealing shops and randomly arresting traders, which is why the organisation was forced to take this step," said Chairperson Jayasawal, adding that all businesses except outlets selling daily essentials would remain closed until Sunday. He warned that they would be forced to start a phase-wise protest unless the police administration allowed businesses to operate without hassles.
Chief District Officer Dharmendra Kumar Mishra, on his part, asked the chamber not to resort to any act that affects public life.
"Wherever we've raided and sealed shops, we did it on the basis of tip-off that the shops had smuggled goods," he said. He denied the accusation that the market monitoring had been carried out to harass businesspersons.
A version of this article appears in the print on February 10, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
