At least 375 government employees in Nepal have resigned due to security problems after receiving threats from various armed groups in the Terai plains bordering India.
Some 375 secretaries of village development committees (VDC) in various districts of Terai in southern Nepal have submitted their resignation citing security reasons.
The employees said they have been receiving threats from various armed groups and would not be able to return to their villages until the government guaranteed full security for them.
Hari Prasad Pokharel, secretary of Rangeli VDC in Morang and central member of VDC Secretaries Rights Conservation Centre, said the government servants are subjected to intimidation, extortion, abduction and even killing by armed groups.
Earlier, the Maoist insurgents were the major threat for VDCs and their secretaries.
Now with the growing unrest in the Terai plains, armed groups of the region have targeted the government employees.
Armed groups have been issuing threats to civil servants working in the Teria plains and belonging to the hilly region. At least nine government servants have so far been killed and over a dozen others abducted by different armed groups of Terai in the past 6-7 months.
Among those who tendered their resignation included civil servants from Sarlahi, Bara, and Rautahat districts in southern Nepal. Government employees in Sunsari, Morang, Dhanusha, Siraha, Mohattari and Udaypur districts of southeast Nepal have been staging protests for over a month demanding better security.