Police on Sunday arrested 50 contractors while they attempted to padlock the Department of Water Resources and Irrigation in Jawalakhel, Lalitpur.

Rabi Singh, president of the Federation of Contractors’ Association of Nepal, said protesters including senior vice president of the federation Aang Dorje Lama and general secretary Roshan Dahal were detained.

The demonstrators had also planned to stage a sit-in outside the department.

Singh said another group of contractors is protesting in front of the Department of Roads in Babarmahal.

Contractors are up in arms for the past few weeks demanding payments for their completed works amid the delay caused by government agencies due to a resource crunch. Besides demanding overdue payments from the government, they are also seeking extensions of the contracts and price adjustments to adjust to inflation.