'Ensure security as country heading towards deindustrialisation'

Lawmakers today asked Surya Nepal to resume operation of its garment unit.

The closure of Surya Nepal garment unit will have multiple negative impact, lawmaker and former finance minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat said, adding that it is unfortunate to learn about the closure of export-oriented multinational company.

The shutdown of Surya Garment has proved that the government has failed to ensure governance through its activities, he said, adding that law enforcing bodies have completely failed to maintain law and order situation. Industrial labour unrest is the biggest problem in recent times, he added. Mahat rued government’s complete failure in creating conducive investment environment. “How can the industries sustain without government’s initiative,” he asked. The industrial sector has been deteriorating, the former finance minister said, adding that the country is heading towards the process of ‘deindustrialisation’.

Another lawmaker and industrialist Binod Chaudhary said that the national development has been hit due to frequent labour unrest and closure of export oriented industries hard. The contribution of industry sector in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has reduced to six per cent and it is declining every year, he said, adding that Surya Nepal’s garment unit closure case has proved that Nepal lacks safe policy for the sustainability of industry.

However, committee member Hari Roka opposed Dr Mahat and Chaudhary saying that labour unrest is not only the reason for the closure of Surya Garment.

“The easy way to hide the wrongdoings of industrialists is to blame for labour for every problem,” he said, questioning the intention of industrialists who had, according to him, cheated national coffer by creating false Value Added Tax (VAT) bill. The government should scrap licence of entire services of Surya Nepal, if it has opted for closure depite its possibility of operation, he added.

Another lawmaker Bishnu Prasad Rimal blamed Surya Nepal of trying to sabotage trade union rights by closing the factory. “The condition had not reached to that extreme,” he said, urging Surya Nepal management to solve the problem through talks.

The factory should resume production since labours themselves have been demanding its operation, Rimal added.

However, Surya Nepal Garment said that it does not feel safe to operate factory at the similar situation. Surya Nepal — one of the country’s leading joint venture companies and the largest tax payer — pulled its garment unit’s shutter down on August 17 completely.

The company had closed its garment unit in Biratnagar from June 15 citing insecurity following violent protests by the workers. The prolonged labour problem forced the company to permanently close the garment unit, according to its management. It had been employing some 608 workers directly and 500 workers indirectly. It had contributed more than Rs 300 million last fiscal year.

Published on: 25 August 2011 | The Himalayan Times