Kalaiya crippled on sixth day of agitation

15 Feb 2015, Kalaiya - On the sixth day of agitation, protesters and police clashed for the second consecutive day in Kalaiya. The district headquarters of Bara remained tense throughout Saturday.

While the agitating mob of locals, business persons and party cadres lobbed stones, police resorted to baton-charge and fired tear-gas shells. Violence flared

up as the police tried to secure Pashupati Library, Drinking Water Supply Division

Office and the Nepali Congress party office.

The Bara Chamber of Commerce and Industry has been against the government’s move to shift the land revenue, land survey, and land reforms offices to Simara. With business establishments shut and vehicles remaining off the road, local residents have been hit hard. “Police had to fire more than 50 tear-gas canisters to keep the protesters off the NC office,” said Deputy Superintendent of Police Rabindra Regmi. More than two dozen people on both sides have been reported injured.

While Jitendra Sonal, joint general secretary of the Tarai-Madhes Loktantrik Party, was injured in the head, protesters beat up a plain-clothed ASI, Upendra Sah, at Bharat Chowk. Hit in the face, Sah was referred to National Medical College, Birgunj from Kalaiya Hospital.

The protesters had tried to attack a team of rights activists from Janakpur who had reached there to gather information. Police held two demonstrators. Protesters continued to clash with police and vandalise property despite requests from the chairperson of the Bara Chamber, who leads the protest. The agitation is feared to have gone out of hand since Friday.

The agitating locals have refused to sit for talks with the team of government representatives from Kathmandu. According to former lawmaker Pramod Gupta, the agitators left the DistrictAdministration Office without dialogue.