Far west government scouts land in Godavari for Rs 40 crore milk plant

Dhangadhi: The Far West provincial government has begun the search for land to establish a milk processing plant worth Rs 40 crore, with Rs 120 million already allocated by the federal government for the current fiscal year.

Despite the funding, the provincial government has yet to finalize a location. A proposal has been made to construct the milk powder plant in coordination with the Dairy Development Corporation (DDC) in the Godavari Municipality area of Kailali. On Tuesday, Far West Minister for Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives, Bir Bahadur Thapa, led an on-site inspection of two potential locations: the Women’s Community Forest and the premises of Divya Rosin and Turpentine.

Minister Thapa stated that Attariya would be an ideal site for establishing the plant, as a DDC facility is already located there. He requested Godavari Municipality Mayor Birendra Bhatta to provide land in the area to set up the milk plant alongside the existing DDC. Thapa emphasized that working on the land of Divya Rojin would be more feasible than using community forest land, urging officials to move forward with that process.

The inspection team included Minister of State for Finance Prakash Bam, Provincial Assembly members Tulsi Devkota, Khemadevi Bista, Janaki Kunwar Poudel, Mayor Bhatta, Gopal Dutta Bhatta (coordinator of the land-search task force), task force member Lokraj Pandey (Fire), and Chahan Community Forest Chair Bhim BK, among others.

Mayor Bhatta acknowledged that the current DDC premises are insufficient and expressed readiness to allocate the required land within Godavari. However, he opposed any abrupt relocation of the DDC, citing community concerns. Task force member Pandey accused the DDC project chief of attempting to shift the plant to the herbal processing center in Dhangadhi Sub-metropolitan City-15 without consulting local stakeholders, calling for the move to be halted.

In response to relocation plans, a task force was established on Poush 16 under the leadership of Godavari Municipality spokesperson Gopal Dutta Bhatta to identify appropriate land. The committee has recommended approximately 2 bighas and 8 kattas of unused land from the Chahan Community Forest and Divya Rojin for the DDC and milk powder plant.

The task force was officially formed on Chaitra 18, and provincial assembly members have submitted a memorandum to Sudurpaschim Chief Minister Kamal Bahadur Shah, urging that the plant be established in Godavari.