By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS
Kathmandu : Indian tobacco giant ITC has had little cause for cheer on the 59th Indian Republic Day in Nepal as trade unions backed by the Maoists shut down its tobacco factory in south Nepal, the second such disruption in three months.
Surya Nepal, ITC’s majority-held joint venture that is also one of Nepal’s largest revenue earners, has its tobacco factory in Simra town in frontier district Bara closed since Wednesday with its Maoist-affiliated trade union raising a fresh 15-point demand.
Nearly 400 workers are reported to have struck work, demanding, among other things, a rise in pay.
Surya Nepal, in which ITC holds 59 percent shares with the rest being held by British American Tobacco and Nepali shareholders, said it was holding negotiations to resume production.
The JV’s newly constructed garments factory in Biratnagar town in southern Nepal, however, is functioning unhindered.
The siege at the tobacco factory comes after a similar disruption in November, during which strikers closed the factory for over 72 hours and detained some of the senior staff.
The dispute was resolved after the management agreed to hike salaries.
The strike comes on the eve of a crucial election in April, in which the Maoists are hoping to win a majority and pit their supremo Prachanda as the first president of Nepal.
During the 10-year “people’s war” started by the Maoists in 1996, Surya Nepal suffered several attacks by the communist rebels, including two blockades of leading joint ventures.
Last year, after the Maoists signed a peace pact and pledged not to enforce strikes or extort the business sector, Surya Nepal opened a state of the art garments factory in Biratnagar, generating employment for over 500 people, mostly women.
Besides militant Maoist trade union activism, Surya Nepal is also facing a distant threat from Nepali society.
The Nepal Cancer Relief Society is campaigning for a tobacco-free Nepal by 2020.
Surya Nepal authorities said they would work in accordance with the law of the land.