Former National Planning Commission Member Criticizes Government's Decision to Hand Over Hetauda Textile Industry to Nepali Army

Kathmandu. Former National Planning Commission member Janak Shah has objected to the government's decision to hand over the closed Hetauda Textile Industry to the Nepali Army for operation. He termed this move by the government as a 'wrong path' and claimed that it would negatively affect the government in the long run.

Former member Shah mentioned that the main responsibility of the army is to protect the country, stating that involving it in commercial production and trade is not within the army's mandate and expertise. "In a democratic system, production and trade are concepts handled by the private sector or commercial institutions," Shah said, "Involving the army in trade carries the risk of creating an image of a 'trading army', which is not suitable from a national security perspective."