Government urged to withdraw decision to scrap Dairy Board, remove gold ornament from Pashupati

Lawmaker Mahesh Basnet demanded the government withdraw its decision to scrap the National Dairy Development Board, terming the move against the interests of farmers.

Airing his views in a special hour of the House of Representatives (HoR) today, the lawmaker said, "The decision to annul the Board is capable of promoting milk imports, discouraging the domestic production."

"Is there any need to dissolve the Board which is serving three million dairy farmers, 600 dairy industries, 1800 cooperatives and around 10 million consumers each day," he questioned. "This is against the interests of farmers and the nation. The government should take this proposal back." The government had in the budget speech for the fiscal year 2023-24 announced to scrap the Board.

The CPN (UML) lawmaker also urged the government to take back its proposal to scrap the Cotton Development Committee in Banke.

Similarly, Pratima Gautam demanded the government remove the gold 'Jalahari' (ornament) from the Pashupatinath Temple and maintain its originality.

As she said, the gold ornament was placed unnecessarily in the temple and disputes over it had hurt the sentiments of the Hindus. She expressed her concerns over the inscription of names of 13 individuals on the object.

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