Over 8k mukhiyas to go on strike from October 15

Patna: The Bihar Pradesh Mukhiya Mahasangh (BPMM) on Saturday announced that more than 8,000 elected mukhiyas would go on a strike from October 15 and also not cooperate with the state govt in the land survey works, to protest the killing of their colleagues. The threat of strike by the BPMM came in the wake of killing of Narayan Sharma, a mukhiya, in Samastipur district on Saturday.
“The killing of mukhiyas is a matter of serious concern. More than our 24 colleagues have been killed so far but the govt doesn’t look serious towards our lives. If it doesn’t pay attention to our safety, we will go on a statewide strike from October 15,” BPMM president Mithilesh Kumar Rai declared in a press statement here on Saturday.
Rai said that Mahasangh had brought the district administration’s attention towards their concern but the latter didn’t show any seriousness. “This is a gross administrative negligence,” he alleged, urging the state govt to provide arms licenses to them for their personal safety.
“If the govt claims everyone is safe, then all the officers and public representatives too should withdraw their security,” he said. Rai also alleged that several mukhiyas have been implicated in false cases just to harass them. “Especially the mukhiyas hailing from Gopalganj, Siwan, Saran, Patna, Nalanda, Nawada, Begusarai, Madhepura, Jamui and Sheohar are living under panic due to the police’s bid to harass them,” he alleged.