Promised security for industries remains elusive

JAN 05 - 

Factories and industrial estates that have asked for security personnel from the government as per its promised security plan said that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) has done nothing about it.

“Even after three months of the request being made, the government has not made a move leading us to believe that its promise to provide security is just another ruse,” said Manish Kumar Agrawal, an industrialist.

Kiran Shoe Manufacturers, Triveni Spinning Mills, Reliance Spinning Mills and Jagdamba Steels had asked the Ministry of Industry (MoI) to provide them armed security personnel. The Patan, Balaju and Bhaktapur industrial estates had also made similar requests. 

The government had announced a security plan for big factories in the 2010-11 budget. However, due to lack of funds and coordination between the concerned authorities, the programme wasn’t implemented.

Though the current budget has withdrawn the security facility, it has been reinstated in the prime minister’s relief package. Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai has asked the MoI to establish police posts with five police personnel each at factories employing more than 500 workers.

MoI officials said that after studying the applications for security, it had forwarded them to the MoHA for further action one and a half months ago. “As there was a need for security personnel due to labour unrest in the industrial sector, we had forwarded the names of the factories to the MoHA,” said Yam Kumari Khatiwada, MoI spokesperson.

She added that the companies had agreed to provide logistic support to the security personnel on their own. The MoI has reached an agreement with the MoHA and the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) for effective implementation of the programme, she said.

Meanwhile, MoHA spokesperson Shankar Koirala said that the ministry couldn’t provide security as sought by the companies because they had not come forward with logistic support.

“During several meetings about providing logistic support to the security personnel, nobody from the companies showed up,” said Koirala. “As we have a limited budget to implement the programme, we couldn’t proceed further.”

However, Agrawal claimed that the companies had agreed to provide logistic support including accommodation during a meeting with government officials.

Ram Chandra Sanghai, director of Triveni Spinning Mills, said that as most of the factories are facing hard times due to labour unrest and insecurity, security arrangements were essential. “However, despite our several requests to the government to provide security personnel, the state has turned a deaf ear to our pleas.”

Source: Kantipur