Both the production and sales of the government-owned Hetauda Cement Industry Limited have been affected in the absence of managerial leadership.
The financial and administrative work of the industry has remained complicated due to a lack of other arrangements even after the tenure of the then General Manager (GM) of the industry ended in mid-January.
Similarly, the production and sales of the cement have also been affected.
During the tenure of the then GM Prem Shankar Singh of the industry, the production of the industry could not pick up speed and even the sales had come to a standstill.
The production of the industry has come to a halt for more than three weeks due to the problem in its lime kiln.
The industry administration has said that they have been selling the products with a limited amount since two days ago even though the sale has been stopped since January 12.
Ram Kumar Baruwal, president of the Nepal Factory Workers’ Union, said that the industry administration has become a prisoner of indecision after the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies and the Industry Steering Committee did not address the problems even though they were informed about the problems two months ago.
They had informed the Office of the Prime Minister that the term of the General Manager was coming to an end; but the problem remained unaddressed.
He said that the members of the Board of Directors assured that they would make necessary arrangements but the responsibility of the GM was not entrusted.
He said the industry was facing daily losses and that even the two deputy general managers of the industry had not been able to work effectively.
According to an industry official, there is no demand for Hetauda Cement in the market as it is more expensive than Udayapur Cement and even packing is limited.
He said that there was no alternative arrangement for the work to be done by the GM and the responsibility had not been delegated to the senior employees of the industry.
According to the sales division of the industry, about 929,836 bags of cement have been sold from last mid-July to February 2, 2022.
The Industry, which had set a target of producing and selling 3.2 million sacks of cement annually till last fiscal year, has reduced its annual production target to 2.5 million bags from the current fiscal year 2021/22 after the decline in production capacity along with the managerial capacity of the industry.
The industrial capacity for production is reduced due to the absence of leadership and is more expensive than other industries.
There is no possibility even to achieve the production target that had already reduced due to these various problems, including lack of sales strategy.
The grim situation of the industry is due to the reappointment of then-GM Singh for the second term, an official claimed.
Meanwhile, the three trade unions working in the industry have drawn the attention of the Secretary of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies citing that the production, financial and administrative complexities of the industry have arisen due to not entrusting the responsibility of general managerial to anyone for a long time.
The Trade Unions have demanded immediate appointment of a GM to solve the current problems of the industry.
The factory price of a 50-kg bag of cement of the industry, which has been producing Shakti brand cement, is currently Rs. 746.93.
The Hetauda Cement Industry, located in Hetauda Sub-Metropolitan City-9, which started production in 2042 BS, has limestone mines at Jogimara in Dhading, Okhre and Bhainse of Makwanpur.
Source : TRN,
