Kathmandu, September 29
Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) lawmaker Nisha Dangi has drawn the government’s attention to India’s unfair tax policy on Nepali jute products, saying it has pushed Nepal’s jute industry toward collapse.
At Tuesday’s meeting of the House of Representatives, she demanded immediate diplomatic initiative to protect the jute industry.
Speaking in the House, MP Dangi said the anti-dumping duty India has imposed on Nepali jute, along with an ongoing countervailing duty investigation, has directly hit domestic industries.
She warned that if the industries run into trouble, thousands of workers will lose their jobs, and farmers’ jute will have to be thrown away on the street for lack of a market. She said this would seriously affect the overall agriculture sector and industrial output.
“It is positive that the government is taking steps to reopen the Biratnagar Jute Mill, but, unfortunately, it cannot protect the industries that are currently operating,” she said. “The government should not limit itself to a policy of reopening closed industries; it needs to formulate a sustainable industrial policy that can sustain the industries currently in operation.”
MP Dangi stressed that the process of reviving the jute industry should be accelerated in keeping with the spirit of the Industrial Enterprise Act, 2076 B.S.
She pointed to the need for Nepali jute products to gain easy entry into the Indian market, and for the necessary diplomatic and commercial talks toward that end to be intensified.
