250 bureaucrats arrested by Nepal police

KATHMANDU: Nepal police on Thursday arrested around 250 civil servants from the government secretariat complex, while they were staging a sit-in in the restricted area demanding pay hikes and other facilities.

The strike was called by Nepal National Employees' Federation (NNEF) demanding a pay hike. The civil servants were protesting since Monday, when Finance Minister Surendra Pandey announced the budget for the fiscal year 2009-2010.

The government employees were expecting a hike in their salary during the budget announcement. However, as the government did not increase their pay hike, the bureaucrats took to the street.

The government was supposed to hold talks with the representatives of the civil servants today morning, but due to an emergency cabinet meeting the talk was postponed.

The government has beefed up security in and around the secretariat complex by deploying dozens of riot policemen.

Though the government sources claim that they were planning to provide 12 percent dearness allowances to the employees, the officers were not satisfied.