Siraha, November 20

It has been more than four months since the start of the current fiscal year, however, schoolteachers and staffers at Siraha’s Karjanha Municipality have not received their salaries, thanks to internal dispute in the municipality.

The salaries of teachers since the start of the current fiscal, along with Dashain bonus, were withheld after a case was filed in the court over an alleged fraud case at the fourth municipal assembly convened on September 19.

The opposition had reached the court, saying that the municipal assembly members were tricked into signing for majority’s sake.

“As the court has put the kibosh on further proceedings until the next verdict, the release of salaries has not been possible,” said Mayor Ganga Paswan. “The blocked salaries will be released as soon as the court’s next verdict is out,” he added.

Meanwhile, staffers and teachers concerned lamented their ordeals amidst the inordinate delay in salarydistribution. “As the dispute in the municipality persists and our salaries are being withheld, we are in a tight spot. It has been really difficult to get the underlings to work,” said Janasewa Secondary School Principal Laxmi Ayu.

Karjanha Health Post Assistant Nursing Mid-wife Binita Sah also bemoaned the difficulties she had faced to cover her daily household expenses. “So far, I have been managing by borrowing from others,” she said.

There are a total of 18 community schools in the municipality, where some 150 teachers and staffers work. Similarly, 125 staffers work in various health facilities and other offices in the municipality.