Surya garment wears deserted look, machinery remains idle
BIRATNAGAR, AUG 21 -
Once crowded with hundreds of women employees, Surya Nepal-run garment factory at Taksinbari, Morang, has remained calm since last year after its management announced its closure citing workers’ highhandedness.
Only a few security guards are found giving security to factory machinery. Former workers, pinning hopes of rejoining the factory, have been disappointed after no effort was made to bring the factory into operation.
Surya Nepal has not yet decided whether to run the factory. It has not taken away any machinery outside the factory even after a year. There are four buildings on the factory premises that spreads over six bighas of land. The property worth Rs 500 million has remained unused following the closure of the factory, according to Surya Nepal.
“The administration hasn’t yet decided to bring any new industry,” said Ravi KC, corporate vice-president of Surya Nepal. “We have been studying where the investment is secure,” he said. “Hopefully, we will come up with a new investment plan shortly.”
After the closure of the garment factory, the company was studying the possibility of opening a factory related to milk, noodles and shampoo among others. However, the political uncertainty following the dissolution of constituent assembly means the management is biding time to make further investment.
“Political uncertainty and poor investment climate are big concerns for further investment. But it does not mean that we keep the machineries idle for long,” said KC.
With more than 600 employees, majority of them women, on its payroll while in operation, the Surya garment was considered to have offered attractive facilities in the whole of the Morang-Sunsari Industrial Corridor.
The factory remained shut since last year after the workers started agitation, demanding the wage for the time when the trade union forced the factory to shut down.
Running at its full capacity, the factory used to produce 4,000 pieces of shirts daily. It was producing 1,800 pieces daily before the closure.
Established eight years ago with an investment of Rs 6 billion, the factory used to export its products to the United States, India, Italy, France, among others.
Other garment factories as well as factories producing ghee, jute, tins and other products had also met with the similar fate earlier, As many as 1,500 employees were laid off when JD Apparels Garment was closed. Likewise, about 700 employees lost their jobs when Easy Wire Factory was closed.
Likewise, the factories including Ulike Garment, Unique Aparrels, Shangri-La Apparels, and KTM Quality, among others have also been shut down. After losing jobs most of the male workers have gone abroad while the women have been involved in the households works.
Source: The Kathmandu Post
