The Maoists, demanding a 10 per cent bonus, have indefinitely shut down the plant of the Dabur Company in Nepal's Terai region. It was only recently that they had also stopped the yearly beauty pageant that the subsidiary of the Indian ayurvedic giant in Nepal sponsored.

This incident is a bit ironical as on Sunday, August 31, the Himalayan country's first Maoist Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda invited greater foreign investment. The Maoist trade union at Dabur Nepal’s factory in Bara district has now shut down the plant for an indefinite period.

Sources inform that the officers of Dabur Nepal plant met with the just appointed labor minister Lekhraj Bhatt, who also belongs to the Maoist party, to seek a solution and end the strike. They also met Shalik Ram Jamarkattel, Maoist parliamentarian and chief of the All Nepal Trade Union Federation (Revolutionary) for the same issue.

As per the sources, Jamarkattel responded that he will see into the matter. The Maoist trade union at the Dabur Nepal plant has also rejected the profit figures made public last week. Dabur Nepal is among the largest tax-paying companies of Nepal as well as its biggest exporter.