District Joint Secretary Krishna Kumar Mandal has started a sit-in at the Saptari branch of the Federation of Nepali Journalists, alleging that there is chaos, arbitrary and non-transparent work being done. Mandal has started a sit-in at the main gate of the federation since Wednesday, putting forward 8-point demands.

Mandal said that the secretary of the working committee had resigned a few months ago. However, Mandal alleges that his resignation was not accepted in order to run a 'syndicate' in the federation. He has demanded that the confusion regarding the post of secretary should be immediately ended and a formal decision should be made public, new membership should be immediately distributed transparently, fairly and according to standards, and the names of advisors should be officially included in the board.

He has also alleged that he was deprived of participating in the working committee meeting as a joint secretary while protesting the arbitrary work being done by the leadership.

They demand that concrete programs for the rights, security and capacity development of journalists be implemented, that financial activities, income and expenditure and all decisions be made public, and that general meetings and membership renewals be held regularly. The Joint Secretary Board has demanded that clear public answers be given about the shortcomings of the leadership and that the statute be followed literally. They say that they will continue the sit-in program until their demands are heard.