Rajbiraj, September 26

Koshi victims of Udayapur, Sunsari and Saptari, who have staged a relay hunger strike for the past 40 days, have changed the form of their agitation.

According to Koshi Encroachment, Inundation Struggle Committee Coordinator Mahidev Prasad Chaudhary, they have decided to intensify awareness campaign till Chhath festival starting today.

“We had started our strike by sending memorandums even to the prime minister, but so far we haven’t got any response from the PM or any other person, so we’ve decided to switch to awareness campaign,” he said. Further, pledging to continue the agitation until their demands were met, Chaudhary informed they would start a final and stern agitation should their concerns not be heard even after the ‘let-up’ period.

Struggle committee senior Vice-chairperson Jyoti Jha said they had no other alternative but to resort to a stern agitation.

“What else are we supposed to do when our rightful demands don’t get addressed even after 40 days of strike?” he asked, accusing the government of leaving them with no option.

Among the demands are compensation for the land used to construct the Koshi Barrage and for the damage caused due to encroachment and inundation of the river at different times and the implementation of the Koshi Agreement struck between Nepal and India decades ago.