BIRGUNJ, Nov 3: Customs offices throughout the country remained closed Tuesday to protest the misbehavior with Birgunj Customs chief Kewal Bhandari by supporters of Matrika Yadav-led Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist).
Customs employees and agents have announced indefinite suspension of customs works demanding action against the culprits who meted out objectionable treatment to Bhandari by barging into his office.
Owing to the protest, customs offices in Birgunj, Biratnagar, Kakadvitta, Tatopani, Mahendranagar, Nepalgunj and Tribhuvan International Airport suspended works from early Tuesday morning.
Also, all government offices in Parsa suspended works to protest the incident, according to Satchitananda Singh, chief of Parsa chapter of the Civil Servants´ Union. The Nepali Congress Parsa chapter has also condemned the misbehavior by issuing a statement.
Supporters of Yadav-led Maoist party had manhandled Bhandari and meted out objectionable treatment to him in his office at around 4 p.m. Monday. The group numbering about 25 was led by Dhruba Yadav of the party, who is in police detention.
The dispute started on October 28 when Maoist cadres handed over 13 containers of furnace oil that had arrived from Singapore to Birgunj, to Birgunj customs office for check. The Maoist workers claimed that the customs chief released the containers without conducting due checks. But Bhandari says the mistreatment came even as formal check was being done.
Bhandari termed the incident “cowardly” and said it has not perturbed him a bit.
“We cannot expect civilized behavior from uncivilized people,” he told myrepublica.com Tuesday morning.
“We were having a conversation when they suddenly resorted to their jungle ways,” he added.
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