Day-long sit-in in govt banks • Home Secy’s office gheraoed, journos barred entry into NRB

Kathmandu, April 19:

Most of the government and semi-government offices in the capital today witnessed wide support for the movement for the restoration of democracy.

Protest programmes against the government were organised on the premises of a number of government offices, including the Ministries of Home Affairs, Local Development, Forestry, Education. The office of the Home Secretary was gheraoed for an hour. Officials up to the rank of joint-secretaries took part in the programmes.

Civil servants at the Departments of Road, Industry, Agriculture Service, Health Service, Transport Management, Revenue Investigation and the District Administration Office and District Development Commitee Office of Lalitpur also held protest programmes on their office premises.

Bhola Nath Pokhrel, general secretary of the Nepal Civil Servants’ Oraganisation, said the government, threatened by the active participation of the civil servants in the democratic movement, had imposed curfew. Wearing black bands on their arms, staffers of the National Dalit Commission staged a pen-down strike from 1.00 to 3.00 pm today.

The commission said in a press release that it would announce fresh protest programmes later.

Pledging support to the democratic movement, staffers of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) staged a two-hour sit-in on KMC office premises. Acting chairman

of the KMC chapter of

the Nepal Municipality Staffers’ Association, Sarbagya Paudel, said the sit-in would last for three days, adding that fresh protests would be announced next week.

The Nepal Civil Employees’ Organisation and Nepal Civil Employees’ Union issued a press release today, announcing that the government employees would give continuity to the pen-down strike.

Giving continuity to the movement for democracy, employees of all government banks and corporations staged day-long sit-ins today, Ganesh Niraula, treasurer of the Nepal Trade Union Congress, said.

Staffers of the Nepal Telecom, Nepal Electricity Authority, National Trading Corporation, Diary Development Corporation also remained closed due to the staffers’ strike.

Among others, staffers of Nabil Bank, a joint-venture bank, also expressed solidarity with the movement.

As reports of protests by government officials began making rounds, journalists working in private media were barred from entering the Nepal Rashtra Bank Thapathali today.

14 disabled held

KATHMANDU: Police arrested 14 disabled persons while they were staging a sit-in at the Baneshwor chowk on Wednesday. The protesters were demanding the restoration of democracy in the country. Those arrested are Madan Poudel, Jagadish Prasad Adhikari, Om Pun, Rukmagat Neupaney, Tara Dhakal, Sukadev Poudel, Deepak Poudel, Bhojraj Shrestha, Dhruba Neupaney, Tulasi Baskota, Niranjan Dhakal, Ramchandra Karki, Shankar Dahal and Krishna Chaudhary. Maheshwor Ghimire, coordinator of the Struggle Coordination Committee of Disabled for Democratic Movement, said Madan Poudel was injured as police used force to bundle him away in a van. — HNS