Kathmandu, January 11:

Tribhuvan University Victims’ Struggle Committee today announced indefinite Kirtipur and Balkhu bandh from January 18 if the concerned bodies failed to respond to their demands.

Talking to this daily today, Birendra Shakya, member of the TUVSC said, “We have given a week-long ultimatum to the government till January 16. If the government failed to address our demands, we will shut down Kirtipur, Balkhu and neighbouring villages from January 18.”

The members of the struggle committee have also launched a door-to-door campaign and signature campaign to solicit locals’ support for the ongoing protests. They have already launched the campaign in Wards No 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 17 and 18 of the Kirtipur Municipality.

Shakya said they would stage a sit-in in front of the main entrance of TU from tomorrow and would also launch protests, including the demonstration of signatures collected from Kirtipur locals.

On the other hand, the TU administration has indefinitely shut the university since January 1 citing security reasons.

“Though the government has deployed security forces in TU, there is no environment to open the university and execute our daily works,” TU vice-chancellor Prof Madhav Prasad Sharma said. He also said they were holding talks with the parties concerned to resolve the issue.

According to Prof Sharma, political parties and their student wings are positive about the steps that the TU had taken to ensure security of its employees and protect its infrastructure. He sought parties’ commitment to make the academia free of strikes and violent activities.