KATHMANDU, Nov 4: Contractors have said they have returned to work, for a while, after 25 days of protest following the murder of Sharad Kumar Gauchan, president of Federation of Contractors’ Association of Nepal (FCAN). It have said it will participate in public contract bidding from Sunday. 

They will resume protest after December 15. 

The FCAN said it decided to participate in public bidding after it had  considered the upcoming parliamentary and provincial elections.

The FCAN had announced that its members would stop participating in public bidding after Gauchan was killed by unidentified shooters on October 23 in the capital city. 

Speaking at a press meet in Kathmandu, FCAN’s former president Shakunt Lal Hirachan said that they have decided to participate in contract bidding considering upcoming elections, and will continue protest until the government brought the murderers to book. 

However, Hirachan did not clarify why they resumed work only for a limited time.
When asked why they lifted protest for upcoming elections, Hirachan said: “Our work is important for the government’s spending and its development programs.” 

There is speculation that they resumed work for a limited time in order to raise money for elections. The past trend shows that public contract awards are a source of resource generation for many political parties. This may be important for dozens of contractors who are contesting the elections from different political parties. About two dozen contractors were elected in the second Constituent Assembly election. 

Hirachan also criticized the government for its failure to book criminals even after three weeks of the murder.  “Police always say they are close to a conclusion but there is no result yet,” added Hirachan. 

“We thought police were serious on investigation in the initial days but they are not. It seems police themselves are protecting criminals,” blamed Jayaram Lamichhane, former president of FCAN. 

Lamichhane further said: “During our meetings immediately after the shooting, high-level police officials had said that they also had received phone calls of killers from unknown caller IDs, but it’s hard to believe they do not know the killers.” 

The contractors had reported to the police that they (contractors) were receiving multiple threats on their phone after the incident. 

Lamichhane also said that they still felt insecure to resume their work. The FCAN has said they will begin a strong protest program if the killers were not booked and made public by December 15, according to a press release issued by FCAN.

 
• contractors
 
• temporarily