Kathmandu: Sarlahi district has clamped a curfew to tame untoward situation after a person died in a clash that erupted over a dispute at a primary health center at Barahathawa.
As the dispute turned into a demonstration, Jay Shankar Saha (30 years old) from Barahathawa lost his life. Police had resorted to blank firing and tear gas shells to contain the situation where demonstrators pelted stones at the residence of the Barahathawa municipality mayor, Kalpana Katuwal, and the municipality office. Given the deteriorating situation and to maintain peace and security, the District Administration Office imposed a curfew from 5:30 pm till 8:00 am tomorrow.
Various political parties as the Nepali Congress, Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal, Bahujan, and Janamat Party demonstrated the enforcement of the municipality’s decision to hand over the primary health centre of Barahathawa-6 to the Madhesh Province government for its upgrading.
Although the municipality’s meeting had made such a decision earlier, it later retracted from it, leading to the parties’ ire. The meeting decided to hand over the primary health center to the province government to upgrade it to a 50-bed hospital. The political representatives and cadres disapproved of the withdrawal of the decision which ultimately caused the violent demonstration. Most of the office bearers including Mayor Katuwal withdrew the decision.
