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Kathmandu Monday July 03, 2000 Ahsad 19, 2057.
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Biratnagar tense Talks to resolve impasse fail
By a Post Reporter
BIRATNAGAR, July 2 - Biratnagar remained tense all day today even as the
stand-off between the striking workers at Biratnagar Jute Mills and the Mills' management
continued.
The two sides failed to reach any solution in an inconclusive talks,
according to representatives who took part in the failed talks.
The Chief District Officer Tulsi Prasad Bhattarai tried to bring the two
warring sides to the negotiating table today, following confrontations between the workers
and the police yesterday which left nine police personnel and three workers injured.
In Kathmandu, the opposition yesterday staged a walkout in Parliament,
alleging that the government resorted to heavy handedness in handling the labour strife.
Home Minister Govinda Raj Joshi dismissed opposition claims that police had opened fired
at the workers.
The Mill workers have been on strike for the past one month, demanding that
Nepal’s biggest jute factory be opened immediately and their 19-point demand be met.
The workers have decided to take to the streets after the management failed to resume work
by May 28, according to labour unions.
Life in this eastern Nepal’s hub has been badly hit with the striking
worker’s adopting various means to press ahead with their demands. They have also
tried to erect barricades at the Nepal-India border at Jogbani.
Traffic on the Biratnagar-Jogbani highway came to a standstill today and two
taxis plying on the road were smashed by the workers. The agitated workers also closed
down the shops in the Jogbani area. But no confrontation occurred today between the
workers and the police, according to eyewitnesses.
Women workers at the jute mills today organised sit-in at the District
Administration Office.
The confrontation between the police and workers has in total left three
police inspectors, 16 lower ranks police personnel, four workers and four locals injured
so far.
According to Superintendent of Police, Kalyan Kumar Timilsina, police have
arrested eight workers. "We have used 21 rounds of blank fire, 30 shells of tear gas
and five rounds of gas grenade," said Timilsina.
Coordinator of the Workers Agitation Committee, Dharmanand Sanjel, however,
accused the police of injuring more than 50 workers and stonewalling facts. According to
Sanjel, two severely injured workers -- Mohammad Sultan and Raj Kumar Shah -- are
undergoing treatment at Koshi Zonal Hospital.
The trouble started on June 27 when the workers at the jute mills blocked the
Nepal-India border at Jogbani for three days and police used force to open the border.
The district administration has declared the Biratnagar-Jogbani highway as
"prohibited area" and has ordered to shoot any protestors trying to block the
transit point.
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