Labour trouble at another Indian JV in Nepal

(IANS)

Forty people were arrested and nearly a dozen injured in clashes with the police in Kathmandu Wednesday during labour trouble at yet another Indian joint venture in Nepal, United Telecom Ltd (UTL).

Since Friday protesters have been staging a daily sit-in in front of the UTL headquarters in Putalisadak in Kathmandu ...

Forty people were taken into custody by the police during clashes, which also left several injured.

The labourers are demanding permanent employment for workers who have worked for over 240 days, insurance, medical facilities and education for their children.

UTL, Nepal's first private telecom operator, says it is an unjust demand since the men were not hired by it but by the contracting firm that was used to outsource unskilled labour, following the custom worldwide.

Company officials say they have beefed up security and are also being provided police guards. However, though work at the telecom venture is yet to be hampered, there is growing fear that the protests will snowball soon.

After labourers affiliated to the ruling Maoist party's powerful trade union shut down the factory of Indian Ayurvedic giant Dabur in southern Nepal Sunday, Nepal's first private telecom operator UTL is now experiencing an upsurge in labour trouble.

UTL, whose promoters are Indian public sector undertakings Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd, is smarting under the demands made by the labourers who belong to the Maoists' rival trade union affiliated to former prime minster Girija Prasad Koirala's Nepali Congress Party.

In February, UTL went through the same nightmare when after three weeks of token protests, workers hired by a third-party contracting firm stopped work, demanding direct and permanent employment at UTL.

The protesters also padlocked eight UTL centres in Kathmandu valley, preventing staff from entering or leaving the offices, and began a sit-in.

The police, alerted by UTL authorities, intervened in only one centre, forcing the padlock open.

About 180 unskilled workers have called the protests under the banner of UTL Workers' Union, an organisation affiliated to the Nepal Trade Union Congress loyal to Nepal's main opposition party.

The new unrest comes at a time Indian company Dabur's wholly owned subsidiary Dabur Nepal has seen its factory in southern Nepal closed since Sunday.

The strikers, who belong to the Maoists' All Nepal Trade Union Federation (Revolutionary) are demanding 10 percent bonus.

Talks between industry representatives, Dabur Nepal and the Maoists in the presence of new Labour Minister Lokendra Bhatt remained inconclusive.

This year, Maoists had also shut down Sipradi Trading, the sole dealer for Tata vehicles in Nepal, as well as Bharat Petroleum Corp's Mak lubricant for cars, Exide Battery, and Indian Lucas Electricals that supplies electrical equipment for vehicles.

The tobacco factory of Surya Nepal, ITC's joint venture, and Nepal Lever, Hindustan Lever's subsidiary, have also been closed down for over a week by strikers making similar demands.

Comments on this story

Immediately sack Gachchadar and JP AnandWhy some political forces are zeroing in on only those industries that have explicit Indian connection? At a time when Maoist premier Prachanda’s China visit has visibly caused enormous strain in Nepal’s relations with India, so-called protesters' focus on Indian joint ventures is most likely to further worsen the situation. The more the situation worsens the more will the incumbent government be jeopardized. NC leader Koirala’s latest protestation regarding other party’s alleged hesitation against a broad political consensus should also be viewed in the perspective of seemingly growing anti-Indianism. It clearly demonstrates that Koirala, the most hated superannuated octogenarian of the Nepali Congress, has already begun to show his true character after having been ousted from premiership. It is not that easy for Maoists, whose hands are stained with blood of the innocents, to neutralize the devilry of that NC mountebank. Nepalese politics will not be free from chaos and uncertainty as long as Koirala, the most detestable impostor of that country, is active in politics. Therefore, it is not only in the interest of present government but also in the comprehensive interest of Nepal and the Nepalese that this scoundrel be brought to justice for his direct involvement in infamous scandals like Lauda and Dhamija. Similarly, Sujata Jost, whose political qualification consists of only two things - loathsome coquetry and relation with her father Girija Koirala - should never be left scot-free for having made herself a multi-billionaire by stealing the national exchequer. If the present government headed by Prachanda is truly a revolutionary one, as Maoists claim it to be, these two fierce enemies of Nepal and the Nepalese should by no means be allowed to remain unpunished. However, the process should begin from the immediate sacking of Bijaya Gachchadar and JP Anand - the most heinous dacoits Nepal’s multi-party dispensation has ever produced - from the incumbent council of ministers. Failure to discharge these responsibilities, no matter whatever be the pretension, will forthrightly forfeit the Maoists from being at the helm of affairs. Impotency should not only be condemned. It must be punished.