Gaighat, October 10:

VDC secretaries padlocked and halted work in the Udayapur district development committee and Triyuga municipality today to protest the killing of a VDC secretary, Ram Babu Sharma, in Bara district by cadres of the Tarai Mukti Morcha.

At the call of the VDC Secretary Rights Protection Centre Udayapur, the VDC secretaries based in Gaighat reached these two offices and padlocked the main gates.

They said that the protest programme will continue till security is guaranteed to them.

Meanwhile, the centre has urged the government to declare Sharma a martyr and pay compensation to the bereaved family.