Palpa, December 2
The Joint Youth and Student Movement Committee (Palpa) has announced an indefinite Palpa district bandh from Friday against the proposed division of Province 5.
The committee is specifically protesting against the Constitution Amendment Bill, which, among others, proposes removing Palpa district from Province 5 and making it a part of Province 4. It has made it clear that the division of Province 5 will not be acceptable to it. On Thursday also, protesters had shut Palpa district against this division.
The strike threw life out of gear in the district, with transport movement, factories, industries, marketplaces and educational institutions shut. Travellers are bearing the brunt as both short and long-route vehicles have stayed off the roads.
Krishna Bahadur Ale, district president of the Nepali Congress-aligned Nepal Students’ Union, informed that the committee shut Palpa up till 5 pm on Thursday against the plot to remove Hilly districts of Palpa, Gulmi, Arghakhanchi, Pyuthan, Rukum and Rolpa from the Tarai. From Friday, we are enforcing an indefinite district bandh, Ale said.
The Bill has proposed removing Palpa, Gulmi, Arghakhanchi, Pyuthan, Rolpa and Rukum from Province 5 and assimilating them in Province 4. Political parties, people’s representatives, civil society, businesses and industries have launched a movement against this plot. The strike has had no effect in Rampur, eastern Palpa. People there have neither protested the Bill nor have they supported it.
