PARSA, SEP 19 - 2012
Stakeholders have intensified efforts to pressure the government to reopen Birgunj Sugar Mill which has remained closed for the last decade.
A 21-member struggle committee has been formed comprising sugarcane farmers, former mill employees and representatives from the civil society, political parties and locals. District- and village-level struggle committees have also been formed in Parsa and Bara.
“So far, over one and half dozen VDC-level struggle committees have been formed in Parsa and 10 similar panels in Bara,” said Jitendra Sonal, former lawmaker. “District-level struggle committees are in the process of formation in Rautahat and Sarlahi too.”
The Factory Operation Committee has also planned to hit the streets in the third week of September. Other planned protests are organising hunger and transport strikes.
Kishore Kumar Patel, president of the struggle committee, said the closure of the factory has prompted farmers to cultivate marijuana and opium as an alternative cash crop. “The government should reopen the factory considering the farmers’ plight,” Patel said.
The committee said although sugar mills operated by the private sector are performing well, but the government decision to close of state-owned mill was not understandable.
The factory spread over 52 bighas of land has fixed assets worth Rs 7 billion.
A Cabinet meeting on February 28, 2000, had decided to privatise the mill. The company stopped operation three years after the decision. Although the government has twice called for bids to privatise the mill, the process was abandoned midway on both the occasions due to change in the government. The factory was established in 1965 with assistance from the Soviet Union. It had a capacity to crush 1,500 tonnes of sugarcane daily.
Source: The Kathmandu Post
Stakeholders have intensified efforts to pressure the government to reopen Birgunj Sugar Mill which has remained closed for the last decade.
A 21-member struggle committee has been formed comprising sugarcane farmers, former mill employees and representatives from the civil society, political parties and locals. District- and village-level struggle committees have also been formed in Parsa and Bara.
“So far, over one and half dozen VDC-level struggle committees have been formed in Parsa and 10 similar panels in Bara,” said Jitendra Sonal, former lawmaker. “District-level struggle committees are in the process of formation in Rautahat and Sarlahi too.”
The Factory Operation Committee has also planned to hit the streets in the third week of September. Other planned protests are organising hunger and transport strikes.
Kishore Kumar Patel, president of the struggle committee, said the closure of the factory has prompted farmers to cultivate marijuana and opium as an alternative cash crop. “The government should reopen the factory considering the farmers’ plight,” Patel said.
The committee said although sugar mills operated by the private sector are performing well, but the government decision to close of state-owned mill was not understandable.
The factory spread over 52 bighas of land has fixed assets worth Rs 7 billion.
A Cabinet meeting on February 28, 2000, had decided to privatise the mill. The company stopped operation three years after the decision. Although the government has twice called for bids to privatise the mill, the process was abandoned midway on both the occasions due to change in the government. The factory was established in 1965 with assistance from the Soviet Union. It had a capacity to crush 1,500 tonnes of sugarcane daily.
Source: The Kathmandu Post
No comments:
Post a Comment