Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: Locals of Dhanusha and Siraha districts have started a hunger strike to put pressure on the government to build a new bridge over the Kamala River.
At the call of the New Kamala Bridge Construction Struggle Committee, the locals are staging an indefinite hunger strike in front of the Office of the Chief Minister in Janakpurdham.
The committee had submitted a memorandum to Madhesh Province Chief Minister Satish Kumar Singh last week, giving the province government a seven-day ultimatum to start the process of building the new bridge.
“Since the Chief Minister ignored our demands, we have decided to start a hunger strike,” Pravin Yadav, the coordinator of the struggle committee said. “We had requested the Chief Minister to take needful initiative with the federal government for bridge construction. But the province government didn’t take our demands seriously.”
Along with Yadav, 10 other youths have joined the hunger strike.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Singh has termed the hunger strike a ‘stunt’. “We have written to the federal government to initiate bridge construction at the earliest,” he added.
