25-September, KATHMANDU: Agitating student unions affiliated to various opposition parties today staged sit-in protest from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm in front of the central office of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) against the weekly 49-hour loadshedding.
Lekhnath Pokharel, acting president, NSU said that despite being one of the world’s richest countries in hydro power, Nepalis were facing power crisis.
He said, “Due to the more than five hours of load shedding everyday, students were compelled to study in the dark.”
Around 200 students from various students unions participated in the sit-in protest.
He further said they were going to stage corner meetings in different parts of the city from 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm tomorrow to press the government to control black marketing, inflation and hike in prices of petroleum products.
The students had been protesting since the beginning of this month demanding that the government revoke the hike in prices of petroleum products.
In mid September, under pressure, the government announced subsidy for students on Kerosene and Liquefied Petroleum Gas cylinder, but students rejected it stating that the government was trying to hoodwink them to end the protest. Therefore, they have organised their second phase protest programme.
Source : The Himalayan Times
