SAPTARI, FEBRUARY 21

Agitating demonstrators vandalised the office of Saptakoshi Municipality after the security agency foiled their attempt to padlock it.

Issuing a press release yesterday, Saptakoshi Mayor Uttam Gautam said that the protestors vandalised office properties, including vehicle, computer and digital notice board.

The municipality condemned the vandalism and the act of physically hurting people's representatives, employees and security personnel.

It may be noted that the office was padlocked earlier on Friday with the backing of Nepali Congress, CPN-Maoist Centre, Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal and CPN (Unified Socialist) and a clash had ensued when the agitators attempted to padlock the office yesterday again.

The agitators had padlocked the office putting forth different demands, including disclosure of COV- ID spending and internal audit details, bidding process of the construction of National Secondary School building, running classes in English medium, and spending and implementation of plans of all 11 wards in the municipality.

The struggle committee commented that the municipality had invited conflict by unilaterally removing the padlock without addressing the demands.

Mayor Gautam said the padlock was removed in the presence of civil society representatives and police administration when the agitating side did not come to the negotiation table despite the fact that they had been approached several times.

A version of this article appears in the print on February 22, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.