The business community of Sauraha, Chitwan on Wednesday announced they would not give away a single rupee in the name of donation from now on.
The decision comes at a time when various armed outfits who label themselves as political groups are pressing entrepreneurs and government employees, especially in the Tarai region, to fund their struggle. Many have lost their lives for refusing to pay out the exorbitant sums demanded by such outfits in the name of donation.

Tourism dependent businesses in Sauraha too have come under

the donation drive launched by political armed groups and criminal outfits.

“Since the government has failed to solve our problem, we jointly decided not to pay money in the name of donation from this day onward,” says Haribhakta Ghimire, president of the local chapter of Hotel Association of Nepal.

It was Unified CPN (Maoist), now the party leading the coalition government, who first set the trend of soliciting donations from businessmen, government employees and people from the upper middle class during insurgency.

Entrepreneurs of Sauraha, who used to face Maoist extortion until a couple of years ago, are again facing a similar problem. However, this time the donation seekers are cadres of a host of armed outfits that have emerged after the Maoists joined mainstream politics.

“It was the Maoists in the past and now there are various other groups. Our businesses cannot

survive unless we tackle this

problem head on,” said a local hotel operator.

Government inaction to bring an end to the extortion scourge has affected business in Sauraha. Entrepreneurs hope their united effort to fight against extortionists will relieve their plight.