Herbal Company in Kathmandu Resumes Work After Protest Damage

A herbal production and processing company in the Jadibuti area of Kathmandu has started working again, but only at a small scale. The company was badly damaged during the pro-monarchy protest on March 28.

The protest turned violent in Tinkune, where two people died and several were injured. Many public and private properties were destroyed, including this herbal company’s buildings.

According to Usha Rizal, the acting general manager, the company’s office was vandalized and its production and laboratory buildings were burned down.

Because of this, the company stopped most of its work for almost a month. While its branch offices managed farming and basic processing, the main office could not do marketing or coordination work.

Now, about two months later, the company has restarted some work with help from the Ministry of Forests and Environment and the Federal Secretariat Construction and Management Office. These offices helped repair broken windows in the damaged office building.

The company is now using a smaller, less damaged part of its production area to work. But since all the machines were burned, workers have to do everything by hand.

Right now, the company is working at only 50 to 60 percent of its full capacity.