Biratnagar, September 14 :

Maoists have said they won’t let the village development committees spend the one million rupees provided by the central government.

The government announced to provide one million rupees to each VDC in country through the Budget of the fiscal year 2063/64.

Maoists are sticking to the policy that they will not allow village development committee secretaries to return to the villages until the political problem is solved, said Maoist secretary at the Koshi-Mechi secretariat, Pushkar.

Despite the ceasefire call, some VDC offices are running in the District Development Committee office while a few others are operating from urban areas. All government mechanisms can come to the village and start their work after Maoists join the interim government, said, Pushkar.

Until then, the Maoists won’t let the government launch any programme in the villages, said Pushkar, adding that they would also not allow the reinstatement of police posts and chhoti customs.

DIG at the eastern regional police office, Keshav Baral, said attempts are being made to reinstate the displaced police posts. If people so demand the police posts will be reinstated, said Baral.

Meanwhile, a report from Jhapa said Maoists have set up a checkpost in front of the Mechinagar Municipality office, on the East-West Highway.

Maoist Peoples’ Militia commander, Shreekanta, said the check post was set up yesterday at the directive of the Maoist high command after the government brought weapons in violation of the code of conduct.

He added that more checkposts would be set up at main centres of Jhapa. Shreekanta clarified that the Maoist militia working in such checkposts will not carry any weapons.

Initially, the Maoists checked all passing vehicles but in the afternoon they searched vehicles with Indian registration numbers, editor of the local Janasansad daily, Mohan Kaji said.

In Damak Maoists started collecting tax in the local livestock market from yesterday.

They took this step after they could not strike a deal with the political parties regarding contracts of the local bodies in the district.

Damak municipality was collecting Rs 4.5 million as revenue from the market every year. Sources said the Maoists are also collecting local tax in some village development committees of the district.

House, land grabbed :

Janakpurdham: Maoists on Thursday grab-bed a two-storeyed house and land inside its boundary, belonging to Indu Kumari Satyal, at Mills area of Janakpur-1.

Maoist cadres hoisted their party flag atop the house and seized six katthas,18 dhurs of land. This is the first time in Janakpur that the Maoists have grabbed a house and land after the ceasefire call.

Satyal is now living in Kathmandu and a local teacher was taking care of the seized house, locals said.

Maoist district secretary Ram Chandra Mandal said they took control of the property because it had not been brought to any use for a long time. “As the house and land were in the possession of a capitalist, who did not need the property, we seized it,” he said.

A Maoist source said the party would run its office in the house, which is now old and in a dilapidated state, after repairing it. It is estimated that the house and the land would cost at around Rs 10 million.