Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Government agrees to fulfill demands of entrepreneurs

The government has agreed to fulfill the demands put forth by the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI).
During the meeting with the entrepreneurs today, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala assured them to fulfill their demands.
The Prime Minister has assured the entrepreneurs to fulfill their demands of providing peace and security to the industrial sectors and resolving labor and trade union disputes.
The Prime Minister also agreed to remove the weaknesses of the financial sector reform process and also to continue the previous provision of registering the firms on the umbrella organizations of businessmen.
The Prime Minister however expressed dissatisfaction over Tuesday’s general strike called by the FNCCI.
Talking to Nepalnews, chairman of the FNCCI, Chandi Raj Dhakal, said that the Prime Minister assured them to form a taskforce to solve the demands put forth by the entrepreneurs.
He however said that though they are positive about the assurance of Prime Minister, they are still not withdrawing their protest programmes, adding, “We will immediately withdraw all protest programmes when the government fulfills our demands.”
He also said that the Prime Minister assured them to raise their demands regarding the Maoist extortion drive and other issues during the summit level talks between the government and the Maoists.
The Maoists are yet to react on the demands of the entrepreneurs.
The recently held national convention of business community in Birjung had formed the agitation committee headed by Chandi Raj Dhakal to pressurize the government and the Maoists to fulfill their demands and announced a series of protest programmes.
Meanwhile, the Pokhara Chamber of Commerce and Industries (CCI) withdrew the general strike in Pokhara from today.
The strike was called following the scuffle that erupted between businessmen, who had taken to streets to make the strike called by FNCCI on Tuesday successful, and officials of Gandaki Truck Entrepreneurs' Committee on Tuesday.
The strike was withdrawn after agreement was reached to take action against the culprits after launching a fair investigation into the incident and providing appropriate compensation to the injured and truck owners.
Nine people were injured and six trucks vandalized during the incident.

No comments: