Madhav Adhikari, a shopkeeper at Himalayan Road in Biratnagar, pulls the shutters at his store down as soon as he sees protesters on the street. “I have been waiting for customers for a long time. But, only protesters are seen holding batons,” he said, adding that he is taking risk to keep his shop open. “I often keep my shutter half closed but have to pull it down five times a day,” he said, adding, “And I have been doing this for the past 52 days.”

Likewise, Ram Karki of Biratnagar-10 also wakes up early in the morning to go school with his son. Later on, he again takes his daughter to school at around 9am. “But the petrol in my motorcycle is almost used up and I have no idea what to do next,” he said.

Kamala Basnet, a housewife at Biratnagar-4 said she has no cooking gas to prepare meal. “There is an acute shortage of cooking gas in the area,” she said.

Similarly, rickshaw puller Narayan Ram of Katahari 1 in Morang said he is unable to manage food for his family for the past 52 days. “Due to lack of passenger buses in the area, there are no customers,” he said. Another rickshaw puller Kishandev Paswan said no one has been concerned about their problems. “We don’t know how to celebrate the upcoming festivals,” he said.

Likewise, bus driver Bhim Shrestha said he has not started the engine of his bus after protests started in the area. “We are left in the lurch,” he said, adding that transport workers have living on meals in credit at hotels. Some shopkeepers, meanwhile, have started opening their stores due to the prolonged banda. Shailendra Kumar Sah, a shopkeeper at Gudri, said vegetables have been damaged in shops.

Tempo driver Bishnu Chuhan said he is unable to run his business due to fuel shortage. He said only around half of tempos are providing services and that six were vandalised by protesters.