An emergency meeting between the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) officials and agitating employees took place at the City Hall in the capital to discuss the demands raised by the employees.

Talking to Nepalnews on Friday, president of Municipality Employees’ Association, KMC chapter, Sarbagya Poudel, said the KMC officials have asked the agitators to stop their protests and sit for negotiations. “We rejected the proposal outright and said that the agitation will be withdrawn only after our demands are met,” Poudel said.

The employees of the KMC have intensified their movement from Friday. They have padlocked the KMC office in Bag Durbar and Teku and all 36 ward offices. The employees stopped collecting garbage from Thursday resulting in heaps of garbage along the roads in Kathmandu city.

Poudel said they were concerned of possible health hazards due to the garbage but were forced to go to the streets after KMC turned a deaf ear to their demands for years. He said the movement will continue till their demands were met.

The association has been demanding permanent recruitment of the employees who have been working in contract, daily wages or recruited on a temporary basis. The association has also demanded promotion of permanent officials. There has been no promotion of junior employees at the KMC since 1999.

There are over 700 people working with the KMC on temporary basis, contract or daily wages. Some of them have been working as long as 10 years. The municipality recruitment regulation does not state anything regarding making employees permanent after they worked for a certain period on temporary contract, as in other sectors.

Poudel said the agitation has been initiated after the KMC officials failed to meet their demands in the stipulated 15 days plus three additional days given to them.

KMC officials refused to comment on the demands of the employees and the increasing heaps of garbage in the city saying negotiations are underway.

The two sides are trying to reach to an agreement at the earliest possible so that garbage collection continue on Saturday to avoid possible health hazards in this disease-prone hot season.