KATAHARI, 18 February (IRIN) - With only one day to go before a 10-day deadline set by Madhesi leaders for the government to meet their demands expires, community leaders and aid agencies are worried that violence will erupt again in the eastern part of Nepal's southern Terai region.

From 17 January to 8 February, protesters clashed with police during demonstrations by the ethnic Madhesi people, led by their political party, the Madhesi People's Rights Forum (MPRF). The clashes, in which thousands of people were injured and 31 killed, ended on 8 February after the government agreed to talk to Madhesi leaders about their demands for greater autonomy and political rights.

There has been no breakthrough in the negotiations, however, so people in the region are bracing themselves for possible disruptions and food shortages. During the earlier protests, most of the cities and towns in the region came to a complete standstill because of strikes and a curfew. Trucks transporting food grains, vegetables and other agricultural products were also not allowed to move from markets to villages.

"Poor people like us suffered the most due to a lack of food stocks. We could not afford to buy food in bulk to last for weeks," said Anil Mangal, a 15-year-old rickshaw driver, who is his family's breadwinner.

Mangal lives in Katahari village, 20km from Biratnagar, the largest eastern city, 600km east of Kathmandu, the capital. He is working more than 12 hours a day to earn enough to store food supplies for his family to last for a few weeks. He says he is worried that if he fails, he and his parents will suffer food shortages as they did during the protests.

"We had to beg food from door to door in the village [during the protests] as all the food markets and shops were closed," he said adding that the government made the situation worse by imposing a 12-hour (9 a.m. to 9 p.m.) curfew for three weeks.

Katahari village, with a population of 6,000, was one of the most severely affected areas in the eastern Terai, where villagers said they were arrested and beaten by the police for participating in the protests. Many said they were just spectators and some were forced to join in the protests by the Madhesi leaders.

"Nearly 500 people were injured in this village alone and although they are gradually recovering, they still live with fear and uncertainty about how they will live if the violence recurs," said Lal Bahadur Kamat, a 35-year-old farmer, who showed IRIN his head injuries after being battered by the police.

Most of the villagers work as farmers and labourers in local factories for a daily wage. They said the local administration had failed to help the impoverished families who had lost all their income and could not afford to buy food.

"It will take us another three months to make up for our lost income and now people are eating only vegetables as they don't have enough rice [the staple food] because they cannot afford to buy it," said a resident, Jairam Kamot.

"The situation was quite grave during the curfews and strikes. Many families were having difficulty finding food and medicines for their children," said a community worker, Shakuntala Pande.

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