Kathmandu, July 11
Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development, Chakra Pani Khanal, says responding to a letter of the Indian Embassy about the recent pesticide residue test plan is not his ministry’s responsibility.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs should reply the embassy, Khanal claims.
Khanal’s statement is yet another incident that shows concerned government officials are not being accountable on the issue. Earlier, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had claimed the government did not receive such a letter. Just today, he apologised to the public for the statement.
So far, no official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs including Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali has made any public statement about the letter.
“The letter was sent according to policies of the World Trade Organisation. It is normal and the Foreign Affairs Ministry should give an answer,” Khanal told journalists at an event today.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has already told the government not to implement the decision to stop testing the pesticide residue on vegetable and fruit imports from India.
