HoR meeting: Lawmakers call for timely addressing demands of sugarcane farmers

Kathmandu, Aug 29: Parliamentarians in the meeting of House of Representatives (HoR) today appealed with the government to promptly address the demands of sugarcane farmers.     

In the Emergency Hour of the meeting, they underscored the need to fulfill the demands of those farmers and boost their morale and to create a favorable environment for talk.     

Ganesh Parajuli called on the government to timely address the demands of sugarcane farmers.     

On a different note, he mentioned that there was evidence that Limpiyadhura belongs to Nepal.     

He criticized the recently inked agreement between India and China to reopen Lipulekh trade route as a ''wrong move'' and urged the government of Nepal to sort out this issue through diplomatic dialogue.     

Speaking in the similar vein, Gyan Bahadur Shahi emphasized the need to raise the issue relating to Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura in the United Nations.     

He expressed his qualm over the subsidy cuts for sugarcane farmers.     

It may be noted that the government decided to provide Rs 35 per quintal this year as a subsidy against Rs 70 per quintal in the past.     

Narayan Prasad Saud, pointing out the injustice faced by sugarcane farmers, demanded they should be provided with outstanding payment.     

Likewise, Achyut Prasad Mainali highlighted the human casualties and crops damaged caused due to attacks of wild animals and called on the government for initiatives to reduce human-wildlife conflict.     

Citing the growing cases of tiger attack, he underlined the need to manage the habitat of tigers to reduce wild animals' attack on people.     

Krishna Kumar Shrestha also echoed Mainali's concern and lamented that the government was not paying attention towards controlling wildlife.     

 Devendra Poudel viewed that the subsidy for sugarcane farmers should not be cut. "The government should also take seriously the issue of providing fertilizers to farmers," he requested.     

Nagina Yadav raised the issue about protesting scrap dealers in Kathmandu after the Kathmandu Metropolitan City demolished their scrap collection places and urged the government to hold talks with them and address their demands.     

Prabhu Shah worried about the rapidly spreading cholera epidemic in Birgunj and laid an emphasis on prompt action to control it.     

He also demanded that the issues relating to scrap dealers and sugarcane farmers should be resolved.     

Shakti Bahadur Basnet claimed that sugarcane farmers could not receive payment worth Rs 1.5 billion they were owed last year.     

He also pressed for urgency and preparedness on the part of government to address the demands of the sugarcane farmers.     

Thakur Prasad Gaire shared that the senior citizens and social security beneficiaries were suffering having to repeatedly visit their local ward offices for biometric registration, only to find the servers down.     

He drew the attention of the government towards the inconvenience being faced by person with disabilities to avail social security allowances and other services despite visiting ward offices four times in a row with no success.     

He suggested the government to provide services to such people at their homes.     

Other lawmakers such as Kiran Kumar Shah, Suryaman Tamang (Dong) and Sher Bahadur Kunwar also aired their views on various contemporary issues including urgently addressing the sugarcane farmers' demands.     

It may be noted that sugarcane farmers have been staging protests in Kathmandu for some time now against subsidy cuts and unpaid dues from sugar mills.(RSS)