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Parsa feels IC shortage heat
PARSA, MAY 10 -
Residents of Bhiswa, the second largest market in Parsa after Birgunj, are having a hard time obtaining Indian currency which they need to buy essentials in the Indian border town of Sikta.
Unofficial devaluation of the Nepali rupee against the Indian rupee has forced people to buy it at the rate of Rs. 1.62 while the official exchange rate is Rs. 1.60. “It seems that Nepali currency has been devaluated,” said Om Prakash Sikariya, president of Birgunj Chambers of Commerce and Industry (BCCI).
He complained that Indian traders at the bordering Indian town of Raxaul, who sell goods to Nepali buyers, used to accept Nepali currency, but they don’t do so nowadays.
"Indian businessmen in the border town exchange IC at a higher rate," said a local resident Jitendra Kumar Jaishwal. Indian shoppers who visit Bhiswa to purchase Chinese electronic appliances and clothes are one of the sources of Indian currency in the market. There are huge shops in Bhiswa that deal in Chinese electronic goods and garments.
Hotelier Jitendra Shah said Indian businessmen complicate the existing exchange facility to earn a profit. Displacement of the exchange counter of Nepal Rastra Bank during the conflict is another reason behind the shortage of Indian currency in the town. Nepali Congress regional chairman Kishori Prasad Kanu said that the central bank had been turning a deaf ear to their repeated demands to re-open the exchange counter in the town.
Manager of Narayani Rolling Mills Rajesh Kyal said that the IC shortage surfaced as a result the government’s policy to discourage exports of gravels and crushers.
Chief Manager of Birgunj branch of NRB, Tek Bahadur Kunwar, said that there might have been the shortage of IC since the Indian insurance companies have been drawing huge amount of IC notes as means of premium collection from Nepali people.
Posted on: 2010-05-11 07:44
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