Kathmandu, September 7 : The government has decided to penalize two firms-Shailung Enterprises and Honiko Multiple Pvt Ltd, for their failure to import chemical fertilizers within the set deadline.
A meeting of Agriculture Inputs Company Limited (AILC) held yesterday in the capital made such a decision.
The meeting not only scrapped the contract with the two companies but also blacklisted them. Similarly, it decided to seize the total amount of Rs 900 million deposited by them as bank guarantee.
As per the agreement made with the ILC, both these companies were supposed to import to import 25,000 tons of urea by September 5. However, they could not do so, thus creating the current acute shortage of this important fertilizers used for paddy production in the country.
Shailung Enterprises is owned by Sharada Prasad Adhikari, the house owner of the chairman of the ruling Nepal Communist Party Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Similarly, Honiko Multiple Pvt Ltd., is run by Humnath Koirala, who is well-connected to some Nepali Congress leaders.