Nepali Congress Chief Whip Nishkal Rai Highlights Agricultural Sector Issues in Parliament

Kathmandu. Nepali Congress Chief Whip Nishkal Rai has drawn the government's attention to the problems seen in various agricultural sectors of the country and the complexities arising from development projects. Speaking in a special time during Friday's House of Representatives meeting, he demanded that the problems faced by tea, milk, and areca nut farmers be addressed immediately. Chief Whip Rai mentioned that commercial tea cultivation, which started in eastern Nepal in 2041-42 BS, is now in extreme crisis. Remembering the contributions of the pioneers in the tea sector, he informed that industrialists are preparing to close their industries and hand over the keys to the government from June 1 due to various problems. He strongly demanded through the Speaker that the government take immediate initiative through 'G-to-G' to remove policy obstacles in the export of Nepali tea to neighboring countries and to pay attention to market management in third countries. Similarly, he raised the sensitive issue in the house that milk farmers have not received payment for milk for the past 6 months. He said, 'When milk farmers do not get a price, it has a serious impact on the livelihood of families and the education of children.' He questioned the government's indifference, stating that the daily lives of farmers who are running businesses with loans are coming to a standstill as they have not received the value of their sweat for months. Chief Whip Rai stated that areca nut cultivation, which has good production potential in the country, has not yet been declared an agricultural product, and state bodies are creating obstacles in the transportation of areca nuts produced by farmers. He demanded that areca nuts be recognized as an agricultural product immediately and a conducive environment for transportation be created, stating that ordinary people face problems from the police administration even when carrying 1 kg of areca nuts for market. Similarly, speaking about the expansion of the Mechi Highway, Chief Whip Rai emphasized the need for a need assessment before widening the road to 15 meters. He argued that with the decreasing traffic on that road section compared to the past and the availability of many alternative routes, citizens should not be terrorized during the rainy season in the name of highway expansion.