The aggrieved farmers and laborers who had reached Singhdurbar to discuss informally the meeting scheduled for Monday with the Secretariat of the Investigation Commission on Unfair Transactions (MeterBage) were stopped at the gate.
Farmers and laborers agitating against the meter rate have complained that they were stopped when they tried to enter Singha Durbar for a pre-arranged meeting with government officials.
Spokesperson of Kisan-Majdur Andolan Nepal against metered use Nirga Navin said that the representative team was not allowed to enter the Singhdarbar complex at 2 pm on Sunday to manage the comprehensive meeting scheduled for Monday with the secretariat of the investigation commission regarding unfair transactions (metered use). According to
spokesperson Naveen, four people including office assistant Ajay Karki, secretariat member Aditya Ram and Vishal Rana Chhetri went to Singhdarbar for a meeting with the commission. For that, the commission had sent a pass to the gate to enter Singha Darbar. But Naveen told them that they were stopped at the gate. "After this we reported to the commission, after calling the home spokesperson seven times, there was no response," said spokesperson Naveen. "They were not given an entry pass, it's because they didn't have their identity card with them," he said, "I got the information around 4 o'clock, it's not a question because you can't know who is going to enter without an identity card and you can't go without a card." Said he did . "They are the only ones who have made excuses for not allowing us to communicate this year," he said, "we were informed that only 5 or 10 people will be allowed to enter tomorrow's meeting, so far 33 people have come from all over the country, our demand is that everyone should be allowed to enter. To manage this, friends are not allowed to go today." He claims that the Ministry of Home Affairs has barred the victims of malicious meter exploitation from entering the Singha Darbar.
The government has so far formed three commissions to solve the problem of meter-abuse victims. The commission was formed for the first time in 2080 under the chairmanship of former judge Gauri Bahadur Karki. After that, the commission was reconstituted for the second time under the chairmanship of ex-judge Tej Bahadur Karki. After disbanding it, another new commission was formed on February 26 under the chairmanship of former judge Baburam Regmi.
The victim says that despite repeated attempts to coordinate contact with the new commission, they are being ignored. "The intention of adding a commission to the commission but not working was seen, the work is only being done to hide the problem, the government has dissolved the commission that was formed for the second time without coordinating with the agitating parties and created a new one". The meeting with the commission has also been blocked by the ministry," said spokesperson Naveen.
Earlier, Naveen said that the earlier commission was discussing and hearing the problems in all the district administration offices where the complaints of the meter abuse victims were received, but lately, they have started to trouble the meter abuse victims by arresting them. "In Dhanusha alone, 81 people (who are members of the struggle committee) who filed a complaint against meter bag money lenders have been arrested, instead of listening to our problem, the government has worked to influence tomorrow's discussion," he said.
