After elephants, mahouts go on rampage in Nepal

KATHMANDU - After migrating wild elephants went berserk in eastern Nepal earlier this year, killing at least a dozen people, it is now the turn of the mahouts to go on the rampage.

Dozens of elephant drivers Monday began an obstructive protest in southern Nepal, famed for its elephant safaris and elephant polo, blocking the main way to the Sauraha tourist destination to press their demand for better pay and perks and causing dozens of tourists to be stranded.

The campaign is led by the opposition Maoist party, whose affiliate, the Nepal Mahout Association, warned it would start a strike that would negatively impact the government’s ambitious tourism campaign next year, when it is seeking to attract at least 1 million tourists.

Sukh Bahadur Kumar, president of the mahouts’ union, said elephants owners - primarily the hotels and resorts in southern Nepal’s Chitwan district - had reneged on a past agreement with mahouts.

The protesting mahouts are demanding higher pay commensurate with growing inflation in Nepal, insurance, well-regulated leave facilities and uniforms.

Elephant safaris in Chitwan, a prime attraction with tourists who also love to bathe them, came to a halt and the protesters blocked Malpur Chowk, the main way to the Sauraha region, leaving tourists headed for Chitwan in difficulties.

While those travelling in cars could circumvent the barrier by detouring through villages, others journeying by bus were stuck on the highway.

The mahouts’ protest comes just as the 29th World Elephant Polo Tournament, now a globally known event, ended Saturday.

The Maoist unions in Chitwan’s hotels and resorts have been engaged in several obstructive protests as the rivalry among the trade unions of the major political parties escalates.

Recently, they took over the running of a wildlife resort that the owners are planning to sell.

Entrepreneurs say they are intimidated by the presence of a Maoist cantonment and its guerrilla fighters in Chitwan, that has bolstered militant trade union activities by the former rebels.

(Sudeshna Sarkar can be contacted at sudeshna.s@ians.in)