KATHMANDU, March 15: The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has taken steps to clear the arrears of the milk farmers. Finance Minister Barshman Pun called the high officials of the ministry and instructed them to expedite the process of paying the farmers without delay.
Farmers have been staging protests for several months due to non-payment for their milk supply. The Dairy Development Corporation (DDC) had sought funds from the MoF to settle the dues owed to farmers. However, the MoF had been unable to release the funds due to budget constraints.
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Since assuming office, Finance Minister Pun has initiated efforts to address the grievances of the farmers. He emphasized that thousands of farmers were suffering due to delayed payments and instructed officials to ensure that the outstanding dues are settled by either today or Sunday.
"The state cannot use excuses to stop payments to farmers, builders, etc," Pun said.
Pun further stated that the outstanding payments to farmers will be sourced from the current fiscal year's budget allocation of the Ministry of Agriculture. Despite having a budget of Rs 51 billion for the current fiscal year, the Ministry of Agriculture has utilized only 54 percent of the allocated budget thus far. Minister Pun has communicated with the Ministry of Agriculture to allocate funds for this purpose immediately.
