The country's only tire factory, which is situated in Deurali in the district, has stopped manufacturing for the past eight months.
Earlier, the factory had taken a loan of Rs 20 million from Salt Trading Corporation (STC), but the money has already been spent, according to officials."The loan we received from STC has all been spent and now we are out of raw materials required for production," one of the workers said. He informed that STC has asked for the repayment of the loan.
It is learnt that the factory spent Rs 10 million in administrative expenses while the remaining was spent on raw materials.
Recently, the materials purchased from India and other countries remained stuck at the Birgunj customs due to the Madhes protests. "We'd planned to produce tires and pay back the loan, but our plan did not materlialize," said another staffer at the factory.
According to the administration, the factory has sought Rs 650 million from the government for resuming operation. Out of the proposed fund, Rs 170 million will be spent on repairing the machines and installing advanced tire manufacturing technology.
To resume operation of the factory, the management has already made plans such as retiring some staffers and recruiting 80-90 new staffers. Likewise, Rs 100 million will be used for resuming production.
Six months ago, the government had released fund Rs 41.5 million to the factory. The fund was utilized during Dashain festival for providing salary to the factory workers for five months. The factory has yet to provide salary to its staff after Dashain.
There are around 300 staffers at the factory. As there is no work for the past several months they have been coming to the factory just for signing the attandance register.
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