reasons for the strike in nepal>>watch full video

Advertisement Why are there so many strikes in Nepal?
Because the political system in Nepal is in a mess and has been for quite some time. I’m not going into the details of this as it’s not the place. Some of reasons these days are that following on from becoming a democratic country Nepal still hasn't formed a constitution. Though nearly every year there’s a countdown to it’s finalization. There's one going on right now.

Add-on rising fuel import costs, food price increases, student fees, plus twenty something political “parties”, indigenous groups, local business groups and the odd influential person; a strike protesting something and anything can be called at any time. Usually at the last-minute. As such it can spell disaster for anyone trying to plan their holiday or travel around Nepal using public transport.

To work out how to avoid tourist travel problems when in Nepal you need to have a rough idea of the types of Banda or strike that occur here.

A brief understanding of the common types of strike or banda that occur in Nepal

National strikes
Regional strikes
City strikes
Fuel strikes
Student strikes
The list goes on nearly indefinitely

The main strikes that affect tourists visiting Nepal are national, regional and fuel strikes. This is due to the closure of everything from roads to eating establishments.

The length and severity of a Nepal strike changes depending on the motive behind the strike. A certain political party might call for a road strike or a local business strike or an all out general strike. I’ll cover the latter so you know what to expect in a worse case scenario.

Generally speaking strikes are only for one day. But might occur a few times during a week. Two day strikes can also occur regularly. Longer week-long strikes are called less frequently and usually don't last a full week.

A national strike means all government offices are closed, public transport does not run and non-emergency vehicles are not allowed to travel on the roads. Shops, stores, restaurants are all meant to shut down as well.

Quite often there will be demonstrations in public areas ranging from speeches to protests and sometimes they fall apart into full on riots.

Regional strikes and city strikes are very important for the tourist to understand. They only affect certain areas or cities. Meaning that if Kathmandu is having a regional strike then popular tourist destinations like Pokhara or Suriha will not be affected.

The problem for the tourist is that if you are planning to travel from Pokhara to Kathmandu and there is a strike in Kathmandu you can certainly leave Pokhara but may not be able to get into Kathmandu. Thereby leaving you stranded. Vice verse is also true.

So as you can see a tourist needs to be aware of regional strikes if travelling between places. Advertisement