Loyalists of the Nepal Communist party (Marxist Leninist) Monday morning staged a protest in front of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) central office protesting a decision to hike electricity tariff on an average by 10 percent from September.

Protestors staged a sit-in at the entrance of the office preventing officials from going to work for more that two hours, eyewitnesses said. The organization is a national party that is not represented in the 205-member House of Representatives.

The party earlier spearheaded a successful protest campaign for student concessions on public transport vehicles. The party threatened further protests to force the government to reduce tariffs.

Opposition in parliament and businesses have also opposed the tariff hike. Major donors like the Asian Development Bank (ADB) pressed  for the hike as a condition for future loans.