Birgunj, November 29
Traders and locals in Birgunj have launched a protest demanding that the government reopen the border point with India.
The crossing is closed since March when both the countries imposed nationwide lockdowns to control the coronavirus spread. Although most of the services halted then have already reopened, the border is still closed.
Consequently, locals have been staging a sit-in near the border point for one hour every day for the past three days.
“Everything is cheaper in Raxaul by 30 to 40 per cent. People are moving through other ways; there is no coronavirus,” Rambha Mishra, a protester, also a central member of the Janata Samajwadi Party Nepal, says, “But, how can one get infected by just crossing the designated border point?”
The party’s youth leader Om Prakash Sarraf says the border closure has severely affected people-to-people relations.
Protesters say they will continue the demonstrations until their demand is met.
