Earlier, the local youths had submitted an application to the municipality asking he local body make public its accounts and bills and receipts.

As their demands went unheeded for more than a week, angry youths resorted to padlocking the municipal office on Sunday.

“As the municipality chose to sit on our demands for so long even after the lock-out, we had to turn the screw,” said Arabind Kumar Mandal, a demonstrator,r while another youth Pradip Yadav suspected rampant financial irregularities at the municipality.

“Why would they have to withhold information of public interest even after we had invoked our right to information?” he said, lamenting the hassles that the service seekers are putting up with amidst financial irregularities and negligence of the employees towards reporting to duty on time. The agitating youths have also sought an investigation into the irregularities through a high-level probe panel.

“The municipality hasn’t done even 700,000 rupees worth of work and showed 2 million rupees as expenditure.

We approached the office seeking information related to public interest by citing the constitutional right, waited for 10 days and then padlocked it four days ago and still no result, which is why we had to agitate,” said local Krishnanand Yadav. Further, they have warned of stern agitation if the municipality continues to refuse to address their demands.

Meanwhile, regular services at the municipality has been affected with the office remaining closed for the past four days.