Nepal Drugs staff against pay-off

EMPLOYEES of Nepal Drugs Limited (NDL) have stood against the government’s plan to pay them off, accusing the latter of “playing a foul game”. NDL has remained “largely closed” for the last few years, with the factory lacking working capital even to purchase raw materials. The Department of Drugs Administration has also barred it from purchasing raw materials for its failure to comply with the World Health Organisation (WHO) Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP). After the factory posted losses for several years, the government was forced to rethink about its future. However, factory’s management and employees say the factory can be revived “if the government seriously wants its revival”. “The government is not serious about operating the NDL despite having a lot of possibilities of reviving the company,” said the NDL Chairman Bhairab Bohara. “Although we have forwarded multiple alternatives to reopen the factory, the government has rejected all our suggestions without assessing them.” One of the suggestions the factory management forwarded to the government was replacing the old staffers with new ones, Bohara said. “In addition, we have even proposed the government to operate the factory by reducing the plant size to small scale or in public-private participation model,” he said. Earlier, NDL had proposed a revival plan to the Finance Ministry through the Ministry of Industry, demanding more than Rs 1 billion for the voluntary retirement scheme, clearing liabilities and adopting WHO-GMP. The government has, however, formed a three-member taskforce led by Finance Ministry’s under-secretary Prem Pandey to study the liabilities of NDL and Janakpur Cigarette Factory with the objective of paying off their staff. The NDL management and the staff, however, refused to be a part of the taskforce when they were requested for the same two days ago. “We rejected the proposal. We suspect the government is playing a foul game to close down the factory citing our consent just by including us in the taskforce,” said Bohara. He said the NDL board has not approved the factory’s closure despite the government’s plan to shut it down after paying the staff off. However, the Finance Ministry said it is only assessing NDL’s assets and liabilities. Basu Sharma, under-secretary at the privatization cell of the ministry, said the government has not taken any decision on whether to privatise or lease the company. Padam Thapaliya, general secretary of NDL’s workers’ union, said NDL’s fixed assets, if sold out or provided in lease, would be sufficient to settle its entire liabilities. The factory’s liabilities have been valued at valued at Rs 1.26 billion, according to a study by the Public Enterprise Board. NDL’s fixed assets have been valued at Rs 5.37 billion. While paying off the staff as per Nepal Drugs’ Employees Regulation, it will cost around Rs 360 million. However, NDL’s staffs have been demanding additional benefits for their premature retirement. If the demands are to be fulfilled, the government requires around Rs 1.15 billion. Thapaliya warned of a strong protest if the government forcibly closed the factory.