Government plans to revive Janakpur Cigarette Factory after 22 years

KATHMANDU: The government is planning to revive state-owned Janakpur Cigarette Factory which used to be the leading cigarette manufacturer in the country. The Ministry of Finance has formed a committee to carry out necessary study for the same.

Giriraj Gyawali, an official at the Ministry of Industry, said that the report has been submitted to the Ministry of Finance to resume the factory.

“As the Ministry of Finance has shown interest, we have decided to revive the factory,” he said.

The committee has been formed under the headship of Chandra Kala Paudel, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Industry. Ramesh KC will be the member and Gagan Bahadur Bishwokarma will be the member secretary of the committee.

The committee will carry out the study to resume the factory at the earliest and will also prepare a report of estimated cost for the same.

The general assembly of the company has been called for January 9.

Lila Raj Kafle, a representative appointed by the Ministry for the company, said that the general assembly was called to endorse the decision of the Board of Directors held on December 17. The Board of Directors had decided to pass the issues from the fiscal year 1999/2000 to 1919/2020 and also the approve new issues.

The government has assigned the responsibility of both the chairperson and the general manager to the Joint Secretary Chandrakala Poudel at present.

The government had been providing services to the employees for seven years after the production of cigarettes was stopped from the year 2000.