Kathmandu, October 13

Agitating contractors have ended all their protest programmes after the government today declared Sharad Kumar Gauchan, former president of Federation of Contractors’ Association of Nepal (FCAN), a ‘martyr.’ The Cabinet meeting today decided to give martyr status to Gauchan under pressure from local contractors.

Gauchan was shot dead by an unidentified group in the Capital on Monday.

Following the murder of Gauchan, contractors had announced a series of protest programmes starting Wednesday in a bid to put pressure on the government to bring closure to Gauchan’s murder case.

“As the government has given martyr status to late Gauchan and has vowed to arrest and take action against the offenders in his murder case soon, we have discontinued our scheduled protest

programmes,” informed Bishnu Bhai Shrestha, acting president of FCAN.

Earlier, FCAN had decided to halt construction works across the country, withhold from participating in tendering process of the government and stage other protest activities like rallies and strikes until the government nabbed Gauchan’s murderers and took action against them.

However, Shrestha said that the government should immediately introduce effective mechanisms to ensure security for doing business in Nepal.

According to him, the repeated threats to businessmen have been damaging the business environment and discouraging flow of foreign direct investments into the country.