Press Council Nepal Staff Protest Unpaid Dearness Allowance

Kathmandu. Permanent employees of the Press Council Nepal have started a sit-in protest, stating that they have not received their dearness allowance for the past 6 months. Employees have stopped work by 'pen down' starting Thursday, citing that the dearness allowance, which falls under the mandatory obligations set by the government, has not been provided since last Magh. According to Ramsharan Bohara, Information Officer of the Council, employees have been demanding the allowance from the management for a long time. He complained that the employees' legitimate demands were ignored at a time when the term of the board members had expired and the board was vacant. Employees have been protesting by halting the work of the Council since Thursday. Information Officer Bohara warned that the protest and work boycott program will continue until there is a concrete assurance of receiving the allowance. Information Officer Bohara said, 'We, the permanent employees of the Council Secretariat, have not yet received the dearness allowance, which is a mandatory obligation of the government, since Magh. We have repeatedly requested the management regarding this matter. We have been raising the issue of the dearness allowance being stopped since the board was in place. However, currently, even the board is not in place and our demand has not yet been addressed. For this reason, all permanent employees are sitting outside the Council Secretariat since yesterday with the aim of creating pressure. This is our peaceful pressure program, not an aggressive protest.' He further added, 'We are nearing the end of Ashadh. Today is Ashadh 19th. Due to not receiving the dearness allowance for 6 months, we are creating pressure on the management to provide the allowance. We have stopped work by pen down since yesterday. Currently, all our work is halted. We will not do any work today either. We will continue to sit here until we receive a clear assurance that the dearness allowance will be provided.' Information Officer Bohara stated that the protest program is a limited pressure campaign for the acquisition of rights.