Kathmandu, July 10:

The Himalaya People’s Right Network (HPRN) yesterday submitted a memorandum along with 19 demands to the Chief District Officer of Kathmandu.

“We have submitted memoranda to CDOs of all the 19 mountain districts of the country with our demands,” Temdi Sherpa, the president of HPRN, said today. He added that the network has set a deadline of July 31 for the authorities to fulfil their demands.

“We will be forced to take to the streets if the government remains indifferent to our demands,” he said.

The network had also submitted the memorandum to Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala on June 1.

It has demanded reservation for the people of the mountainous region that constitutes around 68 per cent of the country’s total area.

It has also demanded that “special programmes” be launched to improve the cultivation of fruits and medicinal herbs and a “special policy” be formulated for the conservation and promotion of the mountain areas by declaring the region the “Himali Green Belt.”

“Cable cars should be set up and highways built in various parts of the region. Around 75 per cent of the royalty earned from the region should be allocated for the development of the region,” Sherpa said.

According to him, the people living in the region are deprived of state facilities and, as such, the rate of migration is very high.