Mugu, November 22
Police on Tuesday
arrested eight people for demanding the creation of a village council by including Rara, Kalai and Dhainkot village development committees.
The arrestees, according to police, include coordinator of the struggle committee Dan Bahadur Shahi, Dharma Raj Shahi, Devi Lal Malla and Padma Nath Yogi.
The district technical committee has forwarded its proposal to the centre (central government), proposing formation of four village councils. Locals of Rara, Kalai and Dhainkot have been staging protests against this proposal at Mugu district headquarters Gamgadhi.
The centre had directed the concerned parties to propose five village councils at most, but political parties recommended only four village councils, coordinator of the committee’s youth wing, Dharma Raj Shahi, told Onlinekhabar. He reiterated the demand for formation of a village council comprising Rara, Kalai and Dhainkot.
He said: Carrying our children, we walked for 2-3 days and came to the district headquarters to demand our rights. Police used force in our peaceful protests and arrested us.
The people of the three VDCs have been staging protests for the past 19 days, seeking fulfillment of their demands. On November 18, they started the second phase of their movement. They have shut Gamgadhi-based government offices for three consecutive days. Some protesters had sustained injuries when police used force to suppress a demonstration, on Monday.
Police arrested Dan Bahadur from Hotel Bijaya and three others, including Dharma Raj, from a market in Gamgadhi. There was no protest programme scheduled for Tuesday.
