June 19: The state government of Province 1 has made an arrangement to provide cash subsidy at the rate of Rs 2 per liter to the farmers who produce milk. The Province 1 government announced this in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year (FY2022/23).

Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning Indra Bahadur Angbo of Province 1 said at a press conference that the subsidy will be provided at the rate of Rs 2 per litre of milk. The government has made an attempt to give subsidies directly to the farmers on the basis of production. Such a decision was taken after receiving complaints that the previous arrangement of subsidy was not fruitful and the real farmers did not get it.

Minister Angbo claims that there will be no problem in resource management as the grants given by the federal government and the internal revenue of the state will increase and there will be savings.

He added that the budget was prepared in line with the 15th National Plan and the first periodical plan of the state. "Besides, the new basis of the current budget is the minimum common program of the five-party alliance. The new plan has been included on the same basis," he said. He clarified that additional plans will be implemented only after the completion of 66 projects. He says this will not create new obligations in the budget.

Stating that revenue collection could not be increased due to Covid-19, he informed that some tax rates have been increased this time. Minister Angbo said that the state government was ready to upgrade the Biratnagar airport to a regional level but the state alone could not afford it as a large amount of money was needed to compensate the locals for acquiring their land. He said that there is no need for the states to fund this program as the federal government has not forwarded it. "After the federal tourism ministry raised the issue that the airport could not be made of international standard by paying so much compensation, the state should not have spent any budget," he said.

Minister Angbo said the federal government had proposed to make it state-level as it could not meet the standards of the international airport and the cost of land acquisition was too high. He said that the state government has proposed to arrange flights to neighboring Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, Andra Pradesh, and hill districts.