Dunai, March 1

The office of Thulobheri Municipality in Dolpa has been padlocked since this morning to protest the shifting of its centre.

Locals of four wards of Dunai had registered application at the District Administration Office over the ‘malicious’ act of the mayor and some people’s representatives, who shifted the centre to Jufal from Dunai overnight, said Deputy Coordinator of District Coordination Committee, Dolpa, Nar Bahadur Budha.

“We protest the decision to shift the municipality centre. It was not a decision of the municipal assembly. We want the public demand to be addressed,” reads the application submitted to DAO and District Police. The application has the signatures of 60 local people.

However, Mayor Ganesh Bahadur Shahi said that the municipality centre was shifted as per the decision of the first municipal assembly.

He further said that the decision was taken to facilitate the delivery of public services.

Dunai Bazaar will remain closed and vehicular movement to and from Dunai will also be halted today in protest of the Mayor’s ill-intended move to transfer the municipality centre by cheating the people’s representatives, said District Coordination Committee Coordinator Sher Bahadur Budha.

He further said more protest programmes will come up and all the disgruntled people will be taken into confidence and mobilised.

The local people turned irate when they knew the centre would be shifted after a notice was published in the gazette yesterday.