KATHMANDU, MAR 29 -
Maoist-affiliated All Nepal Federation of Trade Unions (ANFTU) shut down three major industrial estates in the Kathmandu Valley on Monday in protest against the killing of its central member Ramayodhi Yadav.

Yadav was also chairman of the workers union Siraha and coordinator of the Mithila State Committee. The ANFTU has demanded that the government bring the guilty to book and compensate the victim's family. Industrial zones in Hetauda, Dharan, Nepalgunj, Pokhara, Butwal, Birendranagar and Dhankuta were also closed on Monday.

"All the factories in Patan were completely closed," said Shailendra Lal Pradhan, general secretary of the Patan Industrial Estate. There are 85 factories in the estate.

According to Uttam Prasad Baidya, president of the Bhaktapur Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 90 percent of the factories in the Bhaktapur Industrial District shut down. Similarly, Balaju Industrial Estate was totally closed. Pradip Jung Pandey, vice president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), said that the Maoist-called strike affected all the industrial estates across the country, but factories located outside the estates were not much affected.

ANFTU president Salikram Jammarkattel said, "The guilty has not yet been arrested." The federation has demanded that Yadav be declared a martyr. Jammarkattel has given it a one-week ultimatum and warned of another protest if their demands were not fulfilled. Workers also blocked vehicular traffic at different places in Kathmandu.

According to Jammarkattel, 20 of their members were arrested by the police during the protest.


Posted on: 2010-03-30 09:11

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