Rukum, August 16

The agitation demanding to keep Rukum district intact in the proposed six-province federal model entered its seventh day in the district today.

Local women today led the agitation and staged a massive rally at Rukum headquarters.

Hundreds of women from villages shouted slogans for an undivided Rapti and intact Rukum with brooms and plates. They demanded that Rukum be kept in Province No 5.

Males had extended their help to the agitating women. The demonstration was peaceful.

Civil Struggle Committee Rukum member and youth leader Subodhraj Sherpali said that females and males from villages had come to the headquarters and participated in the rally spontaneously. “We had planned a normal show of strength, but the arrival of women in droves made our demonstration a grand success,” Sherpali added.

Various party leaders expressed their solidarity with the demands raised by Rukum folks.

Party leaders and CA members representing the zone today pledged a common commitment to incorporate Rukum and Salyan districts in Province No 5 at a programme held in Kathmandu.

Rukum locals said that they had to hit the street as the proposed six-province model had divided the district disproportionately in terms of resources and important monuments, including mountains.