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Kathmandu Saturday February 03, 2001 Magh 21, 2057.
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Govt to close down Hetauda TF
By Pratap Bista
HETAUDA, Feb 2 - The government has decided to close down the ailing Hetauda
Textiles factory from February 12, 2001, making its 1,092 employees jobless, of which
almost half of them are women.
A Cabinet meeting on Wednesday decdide to close down the factory and release
Rs 250 million to pay the long-pending salaries of its employees.
According to Bijaya Raj Upadhyaya, Acting General Manager of the factory, a
committee comprising of representatives from the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of
Industry, Commerce and Supplies and the Management Board of the factory will be formed to
make the payment to the employees.
The Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies has sent directives to the
factory to freeze its bank accounts, halt the sale and purchase of any goods and material
and stop external transaction.
Established in 1975 with the technical and financial assistance from the
People’s Republic of China at a cost of around 200 million rupees, the factory had
been operating off and on for the past four years on account of running capital.
However, it completely closed from December 6, 2001. Employees of the factory
took to agitation on January 7, 2001 with two-point demand to reopen it ensuing the
complete closure.
Their demand were either to provide 13.19 million of rupees and diversify the
products of the factory making agreement with some foreign company or to close down the
providing its employees better pay and benefits and clearing the liabilities to the
employees at one go.
A committee was constituted with a view to facilitating the factory to resume
its operation including representatives from various local organizations and political
parties.
As a result, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies asked the
striking employees to postpone their agitation and assured them of fulfilling their demand
within 15 days. They had announced to completely halt the traffic, if their demands were
not met within February 2, 2001.
The 35-year-old textiles factory has not been able to pay the salary of its
employees for the past six months and it has also not paid for the employees’
insurance and provident fund for the past 28 months. Similarly, due to financial crunch,
it has not paid its water and electricity tariffs and has about 130 million rupees as
outstanding payment to various other organizations.
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