Itahari, June 26:

Secretaries of 36 VDCs in Sunsari have been executing their duties from the district headquarters for the last 20 months and have not gone to their assigned offices for security reasons.

Only 13 VDC secretaries have been working from their assigned offices. “Citing insecurity, 36 VDC secretaries have been working from the district headquarters,” member of Sunsari unit of VDC Secretaries’ Rights Protection Centre Dipak Babu Subedi said. “Recently, cases of extortion and other threats have risen in the villages,” he said.

“Cadres of armed groups have been threatening VDC secretaries. The trend has gone up after the CA polls,” Subedi claimed.

President of VDC Secretaries’ Rights Protection Centre, Sunsari, Maniraj Pokhrel said they would not go back to their assigned workplaces until security situation improved.

Sunsari LDO Guru Prasad Subedi accused the district administration of not being able to send VDC secretaries to their respective workplaces.

SP Yadav Raj Khanal said the VDC secretaries were not being able to go to their respective workplaces due to lack of security.

CDO Chiranjibi Adhikari, however, said the VDC secretaries were not ready to go to their assigned villages despite assurance of security forces.