KATHMANDU: The agitating local body employees’ union today vowed to continue with their protest until their demands are met through the Cabinet decision.

Ganga Dhar Gautam, president of the Local Body Employees’ Union, said they were compelled by the government to resume their strike.

“As soon as government address es our demands through the cabinet, we’ll call off the strike,” assured Gautam.

The local bodies are demanding for trade union rights, promotion, recruitment through competitive exams, facilities commensurate with the civil servants and the amendment of the Local Self-Governance Regulation.

Gautam added that they had already submitted the draft proposal for amendment to the ministerial committee and are awaiting the Cabinet’s final approval.

Meanwhile, government officials said they would resort to alternative means of collecting the trash.

“The government will be compelled to collect the garbage in alternative way with the help of general

public,” said Prem Bahadur Singh, Minister for Law and Justice, urging the agitating employees to call

off their stir.

Singh said, since the Kathmandu Valley is already polluted, obstruction of garbage collection would worsen the situation as it is likely to cause hazard to the health of those exposed to it. He further added that they were committed to the agreement that they had signed earlier and shared that Prime Minister has given them the strong directive to solving their problem with little or no delay.

There are 75 District Development Committees, 3,915 Village Development Committees and 58 municipalities across the country. About 35,000 staffers, including about 7,000 temporary staff, are currently employed in the local bodies, according to the local body employees’ union.