RAUTAHAT, NOVEMBER 23

The sit-in and demonstration launched by local residents in front of Gaur Customs Office demanding that the border entry point, which has been closed for months, has completed its second week today.

The sit-in-cum-demonstration had started from November 10 at the initiative of the local civil society. The locals cited the difficulty they were facing due to closure of the border entry point for the past nine months due COVID pandemic.

Political party representatives, elected people’s representatives and local residents are taking part in the sit-in.

“The closure of the border has affected marriages and prevented us from meeting our relatives on the other side of the border. So, we’re staging a sit-in to press the government to reopen the border entry point with India pronto,” said Gaur Municipality Mayor Ajaya Kumar Gupta.

Further, Mayor Gupta also cited price hike of daily essentials due to closure of the border and asked the government to give relief to people by reopening the border.

Another participant at the sit-in, Janata Samajwadi Party central member Rewanta Jha, accused the government of undermining the special relations between Nepal and India by unnecessarily closing the border for such a long period of time. Jha also warned of an agitation in the bordering district if the government didn’t reopen the border immediately.