Himalayan News Service

Biratnagar, January 7:

Bishnu Kumar Bishwakarma got his citizenship certificate at his own house today. This move came as a reaction to a story published on today’s edition of Annapurna Post. The vernacular daily had reported that Bishwakarma had been harassed by officials concerned when he had approached them for getting the certificate issued.The Pathari village development committee secretary Harish Chandra Vyal handed over the certificate to Bishwakarma.

The locals said this was the first case of distribution of the citizenship certificate in the village.

Earlier, the VDC secretary Vyal and a staff Devi Prasad Prasain had refused to issue the certificate. The VDC staffs had claimed that they suspected Bishwakarma of being a non-national. But Bishwakarma said he was refused the certificate even after seven villagers had claimed in written that he was a Nepali national. The locals claim that the duo had refused to issue the certificate to Bishwakarma to take revenge of a case three months ago when they had to return Rs 3,000, which they had taken as bribe from a villager there while issuing a migration certificate.