Nawalparasi, November 25:

Maoist People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers, who had gathered to settle in the Jhyaldanda main camp near Arunkhola in Nawalparasi district, continue to remain stranded in Arunkhola Bazaar.

The soldiers are stranded due to lack of physical infrastructure on the cantonment site.

“As the camp is still not ready, the Maoist soldiers are staying at locals’ houses in Arunkhola Bazaar, the PLA’s fourth division commander, Rashmi, said.

The government side is making arrangements for the supply of drinking water, electricity and in the cantonment, Rashmi said. The Maoist soldiers will remain in locals’ homes until the arrangements are made.

Locals are scared because the Maoists soldiers living in their houses are armed. They are urging the authorities concerned to arrange for the militia’s early settling down in the cantonment.

A report from Chitwan, quoting Maoist central member Uttam, said that all PLA personnel, who are to be settled in Chitwan, have already arrived there. The PLA personnel are preparing the camp at Shaktikhor. They are taking shelter in locals’ houses, Uttam said.

Our Gaighat-based correspondent reports that the Maoists’ PLA, which left for the Dudhauli-based temporary camp in Sindhuli from Bhojpur and Khotang districts, have been staying in locals’ houses at Jogidaha VDC, Udaypur, since yesterday. They were compelled to take shelters in locals’ houses due to lack of infrastructure in the cantonment. Of the total 700 PLA personnel there, half are women. “Until they shift to the cantonment, they will remain in locals’ houses,” Bishal Kumar Memorial Brigade Battalion commissar Arun said.

“The government has not provided any logistics yet. This problem arose because we also did not get any direction to manage things ourselves,” Arun said, adding that there was no problem of food for the PLA personnel here. Claiming that no child was recruited in the PLA, Arun said he sent home many youths who had come to join the PLA. The villagers have managed essential cooking materials for the Maoist soldiers, he added.