Cabinet appoints Mukesh Dangol Director General of CAAN; increases minimum support price of paddy

Kathmandu / May 26: The government has appointed Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Mukesh Dangol, as the Director General of Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).

A meeting of the Council of Ministers held today at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers in Singha Durbar appointed Dangol to the post, Government Spokesperson and Minister for Education and Sports Sasmit Pokharel said.

Likewise, the cabinet meeting has decided to release the report of the Cooperatives Fraud Probe Commission, 2082.

The cabinet meeting today also decided to fix the minimum support price of paddy for the fiscal year 2083/84, fixing the rate at Rs 3,660 per quintal to Rs 3,860 per quintal.

Since 2012, the government has been fixing the minimum price of paddy every year. The price is computed based on the cost of production, transportation charges and inflation, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development.

Unlike previous years when the government used to delay fixing the minimum support price by up to four months, this year the government set the price on time. The floor price is the lowest price that can be charged for a commodity. The measure is targeted to safeguard farmers from being exploited by middlemen and traders and encourage them to grow crops.

Although the government fixes the support price of rice every year, it has not been implemented effectively so far. As a result, the farmers time and again are compelled to sell their products at throw-away prices to the traders.

According to Minister Pokharel, today’s cabinet meeting approved the ‘Letter of Reply’ to be sent to the Government of China for the implementation of the Nepal-China (Chilime-Kerung) cross border power transmission line.