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VOL. 27, NO. 23, February 15, 2007 (Falgun 03 2064 B.S.)
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INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION
Damaging Cuts
The crippling hours of load-shedding start affecting the industrial production
By A CORRESPONDENT
The energy-crisis is starting to have all-round effects. From common consumers to business enterprises, the lack of energy has triggered a cascading impact everywhere.
Among the worst sufferers include the industries and businesses. From manufacturing to service industries, all have been subject to swelling hours of power cuts.
The 48-hour a week load shedding has decreased the industrial production by an estimated 30 percent and would further worsen if the government did not take immediate measures to improve the situation.
A team of industrialists who met with government ministers last week informed them about the crippling effect of load shedding on industrial production. They also submitted a report that suggests ways to deal with the situation.
The industrialists met Minister for Water Resources Gyanendra Bahadur Karki and State Minister Dina Updhyaya and conveyed their concern over the load shedding, as well as the delay in reconstruction of infrastructure destroyed during the insurgency.
The team led by Chandi Raj Dhakal, president of the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI), told the ministers that long hours of load shedding have weakened the prospects of continuing industrial activities, expanding commercial activities, establishing new enterprises and providing employment to the growing population.
The industrialists also submitted a memo to the ministers, seeking immediate measures to stop the flow of capital to foreign countries and the increasing trend of industries being displaced from the place of their present operation. Dhakal also sought the government's assistance to find alternatives of load shedding, a press statement issued by the FNCCI said.
YCL Needs Rs 1 B Annually
Much has been said and written about extortion, intimidation and abductions by the Young Communist League (YCL) and its occasional dabbling in social work. But hardly anything has been written on the financing of this most sophisticated and perhaps most ruthless political machine with 40,000 full-time paid cadres across the country, reports The Kathmandu Post daily.
The Post approached a number of YCL leaders in Kathmandu Valley and asked where they got the money to keep their organization going? The answer was almost unanimous: "It's the generous contribution of the people."
But there is more to it than that. Consider room and board first: YCL provides Rs 500 monthly allowance and food and accommodation to its full-time cadres. At a meager Rs 60 per day for two meals, YCL needs to spend Rs 18,00 for each cadre. For 40,000 cadres, the monthly budget (including allowance and meals) is Rs 92 million, which means one billion rupees in annual terms. On top of this, YCL needs to find accommodation for the cadres, who are ready to 'act' any time the party orders.
Surprisingly, each of the YCL units is 'self-sufficient'. The party doesn't provide any financial support and has asked each of them to generate its own revenue. There are over 10,000 full-time YCL members, in 41 units, in Kathmandu Valley alone. When asked how YCL manages its finances, Chandra Bahadur Thapa aka Sagar, YCL-in-charge for the Valley, said, "People provide it voluntarily." He offered a further explanation: People know that a parallel Maoist administration exists in the country and they cooperate, providing us financial assistance. He proudly elaborated how his 300-member YCL unit, based in Balaju, has constructed new buildings for the unit with the help of 'generous' support from local people.
