The Sunsari-Morang industrial corridor has been hit hard by the unrest in Tarai for the last five weeks.

As imports and exports have been affected largely due to the strikes, traders said that they were incurring billions in losses. And as a result, the government is also losing revenue.

Traders and Industrialists have urged the government to create an environment to run the industry, as manufacturers are forced to stop taking consignment of goods from the global market.

“We have been facing huge losses due to the strikes that have crippled the Tarai region for more than a month,” said Rajendra Raut, senior vice-president of te Morang Merchant Association.

“The industries financial health is worsening by the day. We had expected that trades would return to normal after the promulgation of new constitution but it did not happen.” added Raut, urging the government to bring the agitating parties in talks to end the strikes and violent activities.

A number of industries have lost their market in India and the third countries as they were unable to supply goods. Mahesh Jaju, managing director of the Asian Thai Foods, said that they had lost millions in cancelled orders.

They also fear that they would not get consignment orders in the coming days after failing to meet the demands. Most of the industries are reeling under the shortage of raw materials. Manufacturers said that they are even facing situation to dump the products in stock. According to Jaju, they were compelled to pay demurrage and detention of

Rs200 million for the containers that were stranded on the Indian roads.

Tulsiram Agrawal, owner of Vishal Group, said the industries of the corridor had been suffering from multiple problems. “The losses are unrecoverable. Industries that have invested billions are likely to suffer more as all the import–export businesses have come to a grinding halt since the last month,” he said.

Nanda Kishore Rathi, owner of Bagmati Group, said they were on the verge of closing the industry as they were unable to repay bank’s loan and interest, including the detention charge and labour cost. Rathi urged the government to provide an immediate solution to facilitate the trade.

Trucks and containers carrying raw materials worth billions are stranded on the Indian roads. “Some containers have been given security escort but this will not be possible for long,” Rathi said. “On the other hand, we cannot export goods even if we produce them.” There are more then 500 small and large industries housed in the Sunsari-Morang corridor.