Kathmandu, March 4:

Recently appointed 13 members of the Nepal Music and Drama Academy today resigned en masse, paving the way for fresh appointments.

The government has appointed them some three weeks ago. The appointments were widely criticised by scholars and academicians.

According to a joint press release issued by the academicians, Badan Sharma, Laxmi Gurung, Tek Bahadur Balampaki, Krishna Poudel, Ishwor Joshi, Kashiram Budha, Ram Krishna Duwal, Nar Bahadur BC, Bharat Lama, Pradeep Gyawali, Bal Krishna Rai, Min Bahadur Swanr and Jeevan Sharma resigned from their respective posts.

“We decided to willingly quit the posts to create a friendly atmosphere to resolve the long-disputed issue and cooperate with the government in forming a new committee in the academy,” they said.