By Sudeshna Sarkar
Kathmandu : Dabur Nepal resumed production at its troubled factory in southern Nepal Wednesday with its officials talking to villagers who have been demanding that locals be hired at the unit, said company staff.
The multinational’s factory in Parwanipur in Bara district in southern Nepal had been unable to open Tuesday after more than 100 people from nearby villages began a sit-in before the gates, demanding employment.
Of the nearly 800 people employed in the factory, protesters said only two were locals, an allegation that could not be immediately confirmed by Dabur Nepal authorities.
Kantipur, Nepal’s biggest private television channel, said the protesters squatted before the factory gates and began cooking food there, signalling that they were determined to continue the sit-in till the authorities began negotiations with them.
There was a counter-protest by the employees, who, unable to enter the factory, reportedly began a demonstration on the nearby road, the channel said.
However, on Wednesday, the protesters had dispersed and the factory had resumed production, Dabur Nepal staff in Birgunj told IANS. Officials were said to be engaged in dialogue with the villagers.
Less than a month ago, the factory was shut down for five days by 65 temporary workers. Supported by the Maoists’ powerful trade union, the All Nepal Trade Union Federation (Revolutionary), they demanded permanent employment and higher wages.
Nepal’s government remained a mute spectator to the plight of its largest exporter and the fracas was settled only after the Birgunj Chambers of Commerce and Industries, a private umbrella of business bodies, mediated.
It was not known immediately if the villagers’ protest Tuesday was a spontaneous one or led by any trade union.
Dabur Nepal, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dabur India, would also have to start paying 13 percent VAT from this year on its ayurvedic tonic Dabur Chyawanprash after the government here decided in June to remove all Chyawanprash products from its list of drugs and labelled them luxury goods.