from Kantipur. Waiting in a petrol queue. Petrol is now rationed. Only available at government stations. Every vehicle has a "blue book" and the records of fueling are now entered into the blue book to prevent cheating.
And Nepal makes the New York Times via Associated Press!
KATHMANDU, Nepal — Nepal started imposing restrictions on vehicles’ movement on Sunday amid concerns about limited supplies of fuel and other essential commodities from India.
Trucks carrying supplies from India stopped entering the country last week as protests followed the adoption of Nepal’s new Constitution.
To address the shortages, officials in Nepal said cars would be permitted to run only on alternate days based on the last digit of their license plate number.
Siva Tripathi, an official at the Nepal Ministry of Supplies, said Indian security personnel and customs officials had barred supply trucks from entering Nepal, citing orders from New Delhi.
“Transportation has come to a complete halt since Thursday,” he said. “So we are facing the shortage of some essential items, including petroleum products.” read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/...
Would you get be able to get by with three liters of petrol per week?
The measures introduced on Monday restrict weekly sales to three litres for motorcyclists and 10 litres for cars, said Sushil Bhattarai, acting deputy managing director at Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC).
"Taxi drivers will be allowed to purchase 10 litres every alternate day while small public buses will get 15 litres," Bhattarai told AFP.
Since Sunday, drivers have been allowed on the roads only on alternate days, depending on whether their licence plates end in odd or even numbers. (Agence France-Press https://au.news.yahoo.com/...)
The Drama
I'm trying to keep these diaries short. I won't recapitulate all the recent history - read my recent diaries for more. Nor will I recap the geography - Click here to learn about the Terai region of Nepal.
For now, it's all about the siege........ and the Nepalis of the Terai seem to be using more than just a spool of orange squiggly ink to enforce their strategy.... step over this one and see what's happening.
bikes are in demand. Here's one from my neighborhood in Bhairawaha when I was there. I will give you a guess as to why it is rigged this way...
for a bit of levity, The back page of Nepali Times
To all of you whining and dining about how bad things are in Nepal these days, how feckless our government is, how hopeless our leaders are, how racist we have become, how repressive our police are, or how much you hate dal bhat, the Ass has only one message: if you don’t like it here, leave. Good bye. Wait, take me with you. http://nepalitimes.com/...
The Negotiations
In ten words or less, there is now a long history of Nepalis from Terai trying to address their grievances with the Nepalis in Kathmandu. The siege of Kathmandu seems to be intended to up the ante for productive negotiations. This post from my other blog includes a crash history up to Aug 30th. (prior to the new constitution).
In USA, hospitals use a liquid oxygen system. In Nepal, Oxygen comes in cylinders, brought in via truck. It's not inconceivable that hospitals will run out, as has happened in other countries during political instability. We take oxygen for granted.
http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/...
Sep 28, 2015- Big three parties have formed a three-member committee to hold dialogues with the parties and groups agitating against the new constitution.
Nepali Congress leader and Forest Minister Mahesh Acharya, UML Chief whip Agni Kharel are named in the committee. The third member, to be named from UCPN (Maoist), has not been decided yet.
A senior leaders meeting at PM’s office in Baluwatar today formed the committee.
UML leader Jhala Nath Khanal said that the committee was formed to gather further details about the reservations expressed by the agitating groups and parties regarding the constitution and address them. “We have not been able to identify the demands or the problems they have with the new constitution. This committee will address those reservations,” he said emerging from the meet.
NC senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba hoped the committee will fulfil its mandate of holding talks and resolving the current volatile situation of the country.
The Eternal Search for Truth and Context
Riot Police. The protests do not seem to be abating. There is two more weeks before the big national festival known as dasain. There is less time before the airport runs out of jet fuel. rationing of fuel has begun in Kathmandu.
I am trying very hard to be neutral. Here is one analysis that seems to me to be balanced. go to:
http://scroll.in/...
Nepal’s new constitution has seen an inauspicious start, dividing the country into two. There are those who have cheered its arrival – never mind the deaths and injuries in its wake, and the suffering of nearly half the population. And on the other side are those who have opposed it, saying it was promulgated at the barrel of a gun despite Madhesi and Tharu opposition to boundaries of newly created federal states. Many Madhesis, who have deep relations across the border in India, and many disgruntled minorities – women, the indigenous and Dalits – have gone to the extent of burning the document that was supposed to unite the country around a shared vision of progress.
In this constitutional tussle, bystanders have paid the heaviest price. Forty-four people have died in the unrest in the volatile flatland, the Terai, since protests began in early August. This includes 10 policemen killed by mobs with domestic weapons. The response of the security forces has been fierce. Most of the remaining deaths, according to human rights observers on the ground, were due to “excessive use” of force by the police and the paramilitary.
There is a disregard for the alarm bells rung by journalists, human rights defenders, including the UN – even the country’s Supreme Court issued orders to the government to rein in the use of force. The National Human Rights Commission found that the security forces fired live rounds at the agitators instead of rubber bullets. For the past month and a half, curfews and shutdowns have imposed untold hardships on the people. Hundreds of local politicians and activists have been rounded up. While the government has charged more than 50 Tharus, the indigenous groups protesting the federal demarcation, it is unlikely that anyone from the security forces will be prosecuted for human rights violations. http://scroll.in/...-nation
5:50 AM PT: UPDATE: breaking news via Setopati News - from Bhairawaha entry port.
http://setopati.net/...
The obstructions at the customs points at the Nepal-India border at Bhairahawa have been removed on Monday afternoon after locals retaliated against the blockade imposed since the past four days.
The cadres of the agitating United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) had been blocking the entry of trucks and carriers transporting fuel and other supplies from India to Nepal by staging sit-in at the No Man's land along the border.
Hundreds of locals of Belhiya, the town bordering with India, took to the streets in retaliation against the protesters blocking the road leading into Nepal. The agitating cadres finally caved in and dispersed.
According to Lavanya Dhakal of Bhairahawa Customs Office, hundreds of freight carriers and trucks carrying supplies to Nepal have begun moving into Nepal after the blockade was removed. - See more at: http://setopati.net/...
This is the next step. It sounds to me as though the counterdemonstrators were organized. There is risk of communal violence between ethnic groups once we start down this road, as the retaliation will spread outside the port of entry area. As to how far the trucks will get without vandalism, is anybody's guess - they still would need to pass through major towns along the way to Kathmandu.