By IANS
Kathmandu : The increasing violence in Nepal’s Terai plains has compelled multinational Colgate Palmolive India’s wholly owned subsidiary Colgate Palmolive (Nepal) to slash its production by 25 percent, Nepal’s official news agency said.
Continuous closures called in the Terai as well as obstruction of highways by armed groups as well as Maoists, have caused Colgate Palmolive Nepal’s export in the first three months of the current fiscal to decline by over 29 percent, the Rastriya Samachar Samiti reported.
The multinational had established its Nepal subsidiary in Hetauda town in central Nepal’s Makwanpur district in 1988.
In 1999, it also started a new research and development centre in Hetauda and a manufacturing facility to produce toothpaste and tooth powder.
However, Maoists began their People’s War in 1996 with the avowed goal of overthrowing Nepal’s constitutional monarchy. With armed insurrection rising from 2000, Colgate Palmolive Nepal, like other industries in the Himalayan kingdom, took a beating.
In 2000, a small group of rebels set off two bombs at the Hetauda factory, heralding the start of disruptions.
Three years later, when Nepal’s political upheavals worsened due to King Gyanendra’s attempts to control power, the Nepal subsidiary had to suspend operations for some time.
Finally in mid-2005, it discontinued manufacture of toothpaste in Hetauda due to continued turmoil and growing militancy of labour unions.
Now, even a year after the signing of a peace accord between the new government and the Maoists, the Terai has continued to be plagued by armed groups, including two bands of former Maoists.
In the first three months of the current fiscal, Colgate Palmolive Nepal exported personal hygiene products worth Nepalese Rs.10.6 million against Nepalese Rs.15.5 million in the corresponding period the previous year.
Although international agencies and even the cabinet of ministers have repeatedly asked the home ministry to improve law and order in the Terai, it has failed to do so.