KATHMANDU: The agitating local body employees' union today signed a three-point agreement with the government. With this agreement, the agitating employees have postponed their protest programme for three weeks. They have allowed the collection of garbage from tomorrow..

Gangadhar Gautam, president, Local Body Employees' Union - Nepal, said that they would wait ministerial meeting to pass the Local Self Governance Regulation within that period.

Talking to The Himalayan Times, he said that they would hold intensive meetings from Tuesday to find out sustainable solution to their problems. We opted for protest as the government remained irresponsible and unaccountable, Gautam accused. He, however, maintained that they would come up with further protest programmes if their demands are not met even after the 21-day ultimatum.

The agitating unions had brought the local bodies' daily chores to a grinding halt, including the collection of garbage, since December 15. There are about 37,000 staffers in 75 district development committees, 58 municipalities and 3,915 village development committees across the country.