Traffic has been obstructed along the East-West Highway as Siraha locals demonstrate against the municipal police.

Agitated locals started demonstrations on the Mirchaiya section of the East-West Highway from 10am on Monday accusing the municipality chief of mistreatment.

According to the locals, they were heading towards the District Administration Office to complain against the municipality's demolition drive when they were mistreated by the municipality chief.

“We were headed towards the district administration office as a new chief had been appointed there,” said Mirchaiya local Ashok Kumar Sah. “We were mistreated by Mayor Shrawan Kumar Yadav.”

Previously on April 20, police had fired 27 rounds and lobbed 11 teargas shells to disperse a crowd that had gathered outside former mayor Nabin Kumar Yadav’s office to protest the demolition drive carried out by the municipality.

The locals have been staging protests since April 10, demanding compensation and justice for the victims of the municipal drive.

They have also demanded that the municipality provide them shelter and a place to run businesses for their livelihoods.

The Mirchaiya Municipality demolished around 36 houses on February 10, February 23, and March 3, after it found the houses were built by encroaching on government land.

The agitated locals, many of whom said they have become homeless due to the demolition drive, have accused the local body of rushing the demolition drive without a proper action plan and neglecting the locals who have been affected as a result.

According to locals, 17 houses in the Mirchaiya Bazaar area that were constructed lawfully on private land were also demolished by the municipality for widening the road. The municipality, however, claims the houses were built on government land.

Even though the municipality itself had allowed the locals to reside and run businesses in the area before it flourished into the marketplace it is today, it has forcibly evicted the locals from the area now, the locals said.

The locals claimed that they have the land ownership certificates of the land where their houses stood.

However, the municipality claims that the houses were built illegally by encroaching government land.