JHUMKA: The victims of Koshi floods today demonstrated in Jhumka of Sunsari, obstructing the Mahendra Highway for three hours. Arguing that they have been victimised for over two decades (from 2022 to 2045 BS), the agitators gathered in Jhumka and shut down the market, chanting slogans and obstructing the vehicular movement at the bridge over Koshi Canal. An estimated 3,900 households of Prakashpur, Mahendranagar and Barahachhetra VDCs had been displaced by Koshi floods since 1989. The total number of victims has exceeded 50,000, who have now been living as squatters. According to Ganesh Birahi, a member of Koshi Flood Victims Struggle Committee, they have put forward their demands including the replacement or compensation of the land, a comprehensive programme of health, education and employment conveniences to the victims and review of the Koshi agreement. Earlier too, the victims had launched similar protests, Birahi said. “Now they are hitting the streets as the government continued to neglect their demands,” he added. Chairman of the Committee, Dal Bahadur Poudel, said that they would again obstruct the highway on January 1 and begin an indefinite shutdown of the highway beginning January 8 if the government still ignored their plight. The victims obstructed the Jhumka section of the highway from 11 am to 2 pm on Friday.