Pyuthan, March 11:

The effect of indefinite Tarai bandh called by different Tharu organisations is not limited only to Tarai districts. Even the hilly districts have been bearing the brunt of the bandh.

Pyuthan, a hilly district in the Mid-West, has been facing a shortage of petroleum products, LP gas and other essential commodities, which used to be supplied from the Tarai districts.

With the shortage of petroleum products, the price of fossil fuel has escalated in the district and traders have started selling fuel in the black market. Transport entrepreneurs say they have been compelled to pay as much as Rs 125 for a litre of diesel.

“We are compelled to pay more than the normal price for petroleum products,” transport entrepreneur Dadhiram Bhandari said.

Only a few vehicles are leaving for Pyuthan from Bhaluwang in Dang, according to Sworgadwari Public Transport Entrepreneurs’ Committee. “Earlier, around a dozen of vehicles used to ply on the Bhaluwang-Pyuthan road and more than 30 vehicles on local routes. Now, hardly one or two vehicles can be seen plying on the road,” it said. The committee further said all the vehicles would remain off the roads if the agitation in the Tarai was further extended.

The price of essential commodities has also gone up in Pyuthan. However, the Pyuthan Chamber of Commerce and Industries maintained that the traders had neither increased the price nor were involved in black marketing. “There will be scarcity of daily commodities if the bandh extended for some more days,” Manoj Shrestha, general secretary of the the chamber, said.

Kedarman Kachhyapati, a shopkeeper, said their stocks were running dry. “Only a truck of food has entered the district since the bandh began,” he added.

Students in the district said the shortage of petroleum products had seriously affected their studies. “Students in rural areas haven’t been able to prepare for their exams due to the lack of kerosene,” Bishnu Kumar Giri, district president of Nepal Students’ Union, said, adding that final exams in schools began today.