January 2: Dairy entrepreneurs who recently hiked the price of milk citing the rise in production cost of milk have taken back their decision to increase the price.    
A meeting held recently at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD) among the stakeholders reached the decision not to increase the price.

Rajendra Prasad Yadav, executive director of the National Dairy Development Board, shared MoALD secretary, the board and the concerned bodies agreed to roll back the decision to recently hiked price of milk. The meeting decided to conduct a scientific study considering the production cost of milk, inflation in market price and purchasing power of the consumers for the price adjustment, informed Yadav.    
Although the board has already written letters to the MoALD, Dairy Development Corporation, Nepal Dairy Association among other stakeholders about the decision to roll back the price hike on Sunday, Dairy Industry Association Chairperson Raj Kumar Dahal shared that there was no such agreement during the meeting.    
"We agreed to disagree on the conclusion of the meeting. We will take back the increase in milk price if the board appraises us about the criteria to hike price," Dahal asserted.    
The Essential Commodities Control (Authorization) Act-2017 BS has listed milk as an essential food.    
Some milk businesspersons hiked the price of milk by Rs 14 per litre since last Saturday. They had cited the rise in production cost and high cost while purchasing milk from the farmers.    
The Nepal Dairy Association and some umbrella organizations of farmers and consumer rights had protested the act of some limited dairy entrepreneurs.    
The board is entrusted with the responsibility to formulate policies to fix the price of milk and to recommend the revised price to the government in case of need. -- RSS