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Nepal : Stir over fuel price hike |
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Four months after the fall of King Gyanendra’s Government, Nepal erupted in fresh protests on August 19 with violence directed against the coalition government of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala for announcing a stinging hike in the prices of fuels, ranging from 11 to 25 per cent. Cutting across party lines, the student wings of two of the leading parties in the seven-party government, including Koirala’s Nepali Congress Party and the Youth Wing of the Maoist guerrillas, joined forces to stage violent protests in more than a dozen areas in Kathmandu. Protesters burned tyres, pelted passing vehicles with stones and crippled the transport system. Protesting taxi drivers added to the chaos, blocking roads in at least two areas asking the government to roll back the prices. Protesters attacked the house of former Deputy Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, who also heads Nepal’s second largest party, the Communist Party of Nepal- United Marxist Leninist, throwing stones and breaking the glass panes. Protests were also reported from key towns of Pokhra, Biratnagar in Eastern Nepal, Kavre, and Baglung.
The protests got a leg-up when eight Maoist associations, including their dreaded trade union that in the past had shut down scores of industries, warned the Government that they would support the protest if the prices were not rolled back immediately. “In power for just four months, this government has already increased essential fuel prices, dealing a deadly blow to people and showing its true nature,” a joint statement issued by the eight outfits said. “There’s still time to roll back the prices immediately. If it’s not done, we will be forced to join the public protests against the price hike and (earlier announced) power outages. In a desperate attempt to alleviate severe losses, the State-owned Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) announced that the fuel prices would go up from midnight.
The protests are likely to snowball in the days to come. One party that is a member of the ruling coalition, the Nepali Workers and Peasants Party, has already criticized the move, saying the Government should control corruption and overemployment at the NOC to cut down losses instead of increasing the prices. About three years ago, a fuel price hike led to widespread student unrest and the death of a student leader in police firing that resulted in two ministers being forced to quit.
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