POKHARA: Thousands of Pokhara folks took out a rally against strikes defying the bandh called by Tamuwan Joint Protest Committee on Monday. The committee had called bandh demanding ethnic identity in the new constitution. It claimed that the new statute was against identity.

The rally was organised with the initiative of Pokhara Chambers of Commerce and Industry where people chanted ‘Pokhara is always open’. The participants demanded alternatives to bandh and declaration of Pokhara as a strike free area. The rally began from Gaurhapatan and passed through Mahendrapul, Prithivi Chowk, Mustang Chowk, and Lakeside, among other places of Pokhara.

Bindu Kumar Thapa, Chairman of PCCI, said the country would not move towards development as strikes under various pretexts had stopped all developmental activities. “The country has received its much awaited constitution that will open all doors of development. Therefore, bandhs should end forever,” he added.