KATHMANDU: The government is planning to discuss the demands of agitating local body unions in a meeting of the Council of Ministers on Wednesday.

Krishna Gyawali, member-secretary of a ministerial team looking into the demands, today said the government has been holding serious discussions to address the demands of the unions “soonest”.

“We are preparing to table a draft in the Cabinet on Wednesday for approval,” he said. “The Cabinet may possibly give its nod to the draft on Wednesday,” he added.

The ministerial team led by Local Development Minister Purna Kumar Sherma includes Finance Minister Surendra Pandey, Minister for Law and Justice Prem Bahadur Singh, Minister for Public Administration Rabindra Shrestha ‘Prabhakar Pradhanang’ and Krishna Gyawali, secretary, MoLD.

According to the MoLD, the draft containing the issues raised by the unions and their solutions was already submitted to the ministerial team.

Owing to the indefinite strike called by the local body unions, service deliveries in the local bodies were completely disrupted for the fifth day across the country today.

“All services in the local bodies were completely halted today also after the government failed to take any decision on our demands,” said Indra Prasad Adhikari, president of the Nepal Municipal Employees’ Association. “Apart from corpse carriers, ambulance services and fire engines, all activities in the local bodies have been affected,” he said.

The employees’ unions have been demanding trade union rights, permanent appointment of

temporary staff, promotions and a recruitment system equivalent to

civil servants.

Earlier, an indefinite strike in the local bodies had begun on December 15. Employees staged sit-in in front of Singh Durbar on December 24 and at the MoLD from December 27. They withdrew their strike on December 27 after the government agreed to address their demands by January 17. The government subsequently formed a 5-member

ministerial team and a task force to deal with

the issue.

Adhikari, however, said there has been no “positive signal” from the government. “We will continue with the strike until our demands are met,” he added.