Govt asked to ensure Melmachi Project workers’ remunerations

Kathmandu, Feb. 10 – Meclamchi Drinking Water Project Victims’ Struggle Committee has demanded with the government to provide salaries and allowances to around 800 staffers.
Organizing a press conference here today, the Committee shared that the workers had not received salaries for three months. The Committee has warned that they will be idled if they were not provided their salaries and provident fund facility.
According to Committee Coordinator Shree Ram Neupane, more than 1,000 workers and related people were left at lurch as their salaries were yet to be provided.
“We are yet to receive Rs 1.6 2 billion of payment for the project,” shared Neupane, accusing the high-ranking officials in the Project that they had scrapped the Project to take undue advantage from it.
Until the payment is made, we will launch ‘No Supply, No work’ campaign and will not continue with the work in the tunnel where he said a lot of workers work in smoky and dusty conditions.
Devi Raman Adhikari, who has been leading the Nepali workers in the Project, said that the workers were left stranded as their payment has been stopped. Committee Secretary Bishnu Mani Acharya said that the government scrapped the contract with the Project without paying the Italian builder Rs 280 million.
The Italian company Cooperativa Muratori and Cementisti (CMC) di Ravenna had been granted contract for tunnel work and head works at the Project since 2013.
The government recently terminated the contract with the Company after it failed to turn up to resume the work at the project site further leaving the project in a state of limbo.