By Karuna Thapa
Kathmandu, April 10
Finance Minister Janardhan Sharma Prabhakar has stated that the budget is being prepared
with the cooperative sector in consideration.
Finance Minister Sharma stated that efforts would be made to address the budget by gathering comments from all stakeholders and engineers in the cooperative sector for drafting the policy program and budget for the next fiscal year 079-80.
”During the discussions on how to enhance the cooperative sector, several recommendations were made. We’ll try to include these suggestions into the budget ”he stated Representatives and specialists from more than two dozen cooperative sector stakeholders attended the debate.
According to Minraj Kandel, president of the National Federation of Cooperatives, legislation
that is in contradiction with the cooperative sector should be amended. He proposed that
preparations be made for refinancing from the National Cooperative Bank, the construction and operation of cold storage facilities in all states by cooperatives, and the operation of powdered milk plants by cooperatives.
Other delegates urged that cooperatives be encouraged to reach out to every family, that debt recovery tribunals be made more successful, that severe steps be adopted to govern
cooperative misconduct, and that cooperative development research be conducted.
The Ministry of Finance has been conducting ongoing negotiations in preparation for the
upcoming fiscal year’s budget. So far, representatives from agriculture, education, the business sector, banks, financial institutions, insurance, federalism, infrastructure, dalits, disabilities, economics, and other sectors have participated in talks.
The Ministry has set up a toll-free number 1138 for members of the public who are physically present at the meeting but are unable to provide ideas. Suggestions are also coming in for the toll-free number, which may be called during business hours.
