Daily wage earners of Katahariya Municipality in Rautahat have locked down their office. Service recipients have been affected after the office was locked for five days.

Nearly 170 daily wage employees have locked themselves out, saying they have not been paid for three years. All ten ward offices, including the municipality, are now locked.

The wage employees are angry that their salaries have not been paid for a long time and that they have not been paid even during festivals. Chief Administrative Officer Ganesh Nepali informed that the wage employees working in the municipality and all ward offices locked themselves out of the office on October 12, demanding their salaries and allowances. ‘I initiated the paperwork process after I came to know that my wage employees have not been paid for three years,’ he said. ‘Some employees submitted the paperwork. Some had outstanding balances. Meanwhile, many technical difficulties started arising and the problem could not be resolved.’

Officer Nepali has left the district after the problem started to worsen instead of being resolved. He said that he had taken a long leave due to the employee agitation and was staying in Kathmandu.

The agitating employees have locked the offices of Wards 1 to 9, including the municipality, demanding their long-standing salary and service facilities. All office operations have come to a standstill after the lockout.

The city's service recipients are in distress as the office is closed. They have requested the concerned parties to resolve the problem as soon as possible. The employees, however, have said that they will continue the lockout until their demands are met. 'We have demanded our salary. There is no reason to delay in this,' said an employee, 'Sometimes the mayor will pay, sometimes the chief administrative officer will pay. Now we will open the lockout only after the demand is met.'