Pokhara, August 29 :

The workers of Pokhara Industrial Estate closed down all industries inside the estate and went on indefinite strike from today with 12-point charter of demands.

The workers are demanding that their basic salary be raised to Rs 3,300 from Rs 2,560 and all workers who have worked for 240 days be made permanent.

The workers closed all 56 industries inside the Pokhara Industrial Estate and padlocked the main entrance of the estate. All 1,700 workers of different industries inside the estate participated in the strike.

A worker, Shambhu Prasad Adhikari, said, “The workers had submitted a memorandum to Industrial Development Committee (IDC) of Pokhara to provide benefits to workers as per government policy on May 8, but our demands were not heard.”

Workers’ leader Krishna Prasad Baral said the workers had given time limit up to August 28 to the IDC to meet their demands and as their demands were not met within the given timeframe, the workers were compelled to go on strike. Meanwhile, proprietor of the Bindeshwori Furniture Industry, Bhim Raj Regmi said an accord on some of the demands was reached today while talks for other demands were on.