Kathmandu, August 24 The government has decided to hand over the authority to protect the land and other physical infrastructureof Janakpur Cigarette Factory (JCF) — one of the closed companies operated by the government — to the local level government of Province 2 and the district administration office of Dhanusa. As per the proposal of the Ministry of Industry (MoI), the Cabinet meeting held on May 18 had decided that full authority would be granted to the said agencies to maintain security provision to protect the factory and its property. “Province 2 and district administration office will make all the security provisions to protect the factory and its other properties,” said Purushottam Nepal, spokesperson for MoI. According to him, as per the government decision, the government can use the property of the industry in the future as per need. As per the government decision, Province 2 and district administration office are required to put in place security provisions for protection of more than 33 bighas of land and other properties of the factory until the government decides the fate of the factory. The JCF has remained shut since February of 2011. According to Rishi Koirala, joint secretary of MoI, the factory still owes more than Rs 2.7 billion to the government. Likewise, is has operational liabilities of Rs 400 million, which is to be paid to dealers and suppliers. According to Koirala, MoI has started the auditing process of the factory. “As the final audit of the factory had not been completed, MoI has initiated the process for the same,” he informed. “Only after getting the audit report will we be able to gauge the actual financial position of the sick factory.” Until now the government had hired 21 staffers for security purposes and 10 others for the auditing process on contract basis. The government has already laid off permanent staffers who were working in JCF. The fate of the staffers currently employed on contract basis will be decided by the local level government and district administration.