Kathmandu, July 15 -- Contract employees have launched protests after the government proposed replacing the existing system of hiring non-gazetted support staff on fixed-term contracts with a public company or outsourced service providers.

Fearing for their jobs, contract workers have abandoned their desks and begun lobbying ministers and senior bureaucrats at Singha Durbar, demanding that the government withdraw the proposal and guarantee their employment. Most contract appointments are renewed every mid-July, but employees now fear their contracts will not be renewed this time.

More than 100 contract workers gathered at the Singha Durbar complex on Tuesday, where they met Minister for Land Management, Co-operatives, Federal Affairs an...