Ramechhap. Engineers and assistant sub-engineers working in Khandadevi Rural Municipality of Ramechhap district have resigned en masse, accusing them of beating, misbehaving and constant threats at the workplace. With their resignation, the rural municipality’s infrastructure branch has also affected the measuring, monitoring, plan implementation and payment process. 

A press release issued on the letterpad of the rural municipality states that unnecessary pressure, intimidation and insecurity on the technical employees have been increasing since some time from people associated with the consumer committee and others.The statement has been signed by 22 technical staff.

According to the press release, an attempt was made to misbehave and manhandle the Chief Administrative Officer and technicalstaffers of the rural municipality during the 20th session of the village assembly held on June 22.

Two days later, on June 24, the technical staff was abused and threatened with assault and abuse inside the infrastructure branch, the statement said.

Chief Administrative Officer of the rural municipality, Yugesh Kumar Yadav, claimed that the technical staff were surrounded and beaten on Thursday evening.According to him, after the recent incident, the employees have started to feel very insecure. He said that in such an environment, it is not possible to send technical staff to the field for measurement, monitoring and inspection of the project. “It is not possible to send employees to the field in such an unsafe environment. “, he said. 

The statement reads, “The constitutional and legal right of civil servants to work in a fearless and safe environment has been violated.The press release stated that the pressure on employees and physical insecurity have made serious impact on development construction work and service delivery. 

Stating that it was against the law to put mental pressure on the employees to fulfill their personal interests, obstruct the work performance and create physical insecurity, the rural municipality said it was coordinating with the local administration and security bodies to identify the culprits involved in the incident and take necessary legal action.

The rural municipality has warned that if the problem is not resolved immediately, not only the development projects but also the entire service delivery will be affected.