Birgunj, February 20

Talks between the government of Province-2 and a struggle committee demanding that Birgunj be declared the provincial headquarters ended inconclusively here today.

The talks held in Birgunj-based Hotel Bhiswa this morning ended without any solution after the struggle committee refused to end its agitation.

“The talks were bound to fall through as the government didn’t have any solution to the problem other than asking us to end the agitation,” said the struggle committee coordinator Surendra Chaudhary, adding that ending the agitation without their concerns addressed was out of the question.

The committee has further vowed to intensify the agitation after mid-March.

Physical Infrastructure Minister Jitendra Sonal, who had headed the talks team on behalf of the provincial government, however, described the talks as positive. “It was the first time we had sat for talks and they were positive,” he observed, adding there has been an agreement to hold further rounds of talks soon.

The struggle committee Deputy Coordinator Raj Kumar Gupta, Basaruddhin Ansari, Shambhu Gupta, Arabind Gupta, Manoj Chaudhary, Baburam Kaushik, among others, had represented the struggle committee that has been agitating for long seeking Birgunj as the provincial headquarters. A relay hunger strike staged by the committee in Ghantaghar,Birgunj,  entered its 49th day today.