Maoist ‘extortion’ shuts down Birgunj industries
BY SUJIT MAHAT
BIRGUNJ, May 20 – Dozens of industries located along the Birgunj-Pathlaiya corridor including Dabur Nepal have shut down their operations for indefinite period after they failed to cope with the recent rise in Maoists' extortion drive and intimidation.Dabur Nepal, Triveni Spinning Mills, Jagadamba Steel, Shiva Shakti Ghee Industry, Rajesh Metal and Narayani Rolling along with dozens of industries closed operations from Friday after the Maoist-affiliated All Nepal Trade Union Federation (ANTUF) intensified activities in their factory premises.
“Cadres of the federation enter the factory premises forcefully, organize mass meetings and even manhandle promoters and senior officials. Industries simply cannot continue operation in such a situation,” said Sushil Mittal, vice president of Birgunj Chambers of Commerce and Industry (BCCI).
Irked by the Maoist extortion drive and ANTUF pressure, BCCI have also issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the federation to come for talks to resolve problems.
“We will close down all the industries of the area for indefinite period if the federation did not respond to our call for talks within the ultimatum period,” Mittal stated.
According to a statistics, over 450 medium and large scale industries are based along the Birgunj-Pathlaiya corridor alone.
Senior General Manager of Dabur Nepal, S P Malhotra said that sudden closure has inflicted the industry a loss of millions of rupees. He elaborated that the leaders of the ANTUF had started to disturb industrial activities over the last few days. On Thursday, Central Secretary of the Federation, Rajen Timilsina forcefully entered Dabur factory premises and organized a mass meeting for four hours.
The federation cadres had forced the managers to shut down operations for the workers to attend in the mass meeting, in which the leaders demanded the management to make all its staff permanent jobholders. “We decided to shut down the factory till further notice, as federation leaders gathered in the factory premises organized a sit-in protest from the early morning today,” said Malhotra. Sources, meanwhile, said that the Maoists and the Federation, issuing separate letters, have asked Dabur Nepal to pay them Rs 100 million as 'tax'.
Likewise, Federation cadres on Thursday had organized mass meeting at Triveni Spinning, misbehaved with officials of its two recruitment agencies forcing them to walk for five kilometers.
Addressing the mass meeting, the leaders had said that they would take tough 'physical actions' against promoters if they did not fulfill the federation's 22-point demands.
The 22-point demand letter of the federation urges the employers to fix minimum salary at Rs 3,000, provide Rs 1,000 each as dearness allowance and rental allowance and provide medical and insurance coverage at workplace.
Annual leave of 55 days, issuance of permanent appointment letter after completion of 180 days of work and provision of pensions to workers in case of lay off are also its major demands. It has also been forcing the employers to recruit the Maoist cadres.
Industrialists, however, stated that they cannot fulfill all the demands of the ANTUF and had invited its leaders for negotiation to settle the matter. The federation cadres, however, have stated that they take actions if the employers paid no heed to their demands.
Posted on: 2006-05-19 20:18:08 (Server Time)
( Source of above news: Ekantipur.com )
