Six people in Sukhipur, Siraha, have staged started a fast unto death strike, demanding municipality status for Sukhipur Village Council.

The struggle committee, led by BP Bhuwan Yadav, began their death fast at the entrance of the village council office on Wednesday.

The government had issued Sukhipur a municipality status in September, 2015, by incorporating Mohanpur, Kamalpur, Kabilasi, Bidhyanagar, Larkanha, Balhi and Silorawa Pachhawari. But the decision was scrapped by the Local Body Restructuring Commission before giving Sukhipur a village council status. The locals have been protesting against the commission’s decision for past one month. They took out rallies, staged demonstrations and obstructed vehicular movement along the East-West Highway to press their demand, but to no avail.

“We were forced to stage a fast unto death protest because the authorities refused to heed to our demand,” said Yadav.