KATHMANDU, MARCH 10

A new Cooperative Promotion Centre building for District Cooperative Union Limited in Lalitpur, built with the Government of India's financial assistance of Rs 35 Million was inaugurated by Namgya C Khampa, deputy chief, the Embassy of India to Nepal, today.

Udaya Rana, former finance minister of the Government of Nepal, Madhav Dulal, chairman of the Cooperative Union Limited, Lalitpur, and its officer bearers, and representatives of District Coordination Committee attended the inauguration.

The new building of the Cooperative Union built under 'Nepal-Bharat Development Cooperation' has three floors, and a multipurpose basement The first floor will be used as open market, second floor has office and training rooms, a multipurpose hall, a resource centre, cafeteria and part of the multipurpose basement will also be used for parking.

The project was taken up as a High Impact Community Development Project and implemented by District Coordination Committee, Lalitpur, said the embassy in a press release.

Since 2003, India has completed 446 high impact community development projects in Nepal, of which 84 are in Province 3, including nine in Lalitpur District. In addition to the above, the Embassy of India has gifted 18 ambulances and nine school buses to various health posts, NGOs and educational institutions in Lalitpur District.

Established in 1972, the District Cooperative Union Ltd, Lalitpur, has about 765 cooperatives as its member societies with over 350,000 members. It has a mandate to lead, support, coordinate and promote activities of its member cooperatives, and to develop and strengthen farming communities. The newly constructed Cooperative Promotion Centre is expected to enhance the marketing capability of cooperatives and their farmer members and establish direct linkage between farmers and consumers. The building is also structured to serve as an Information Centre for people who have interest in the field of marketing agricultural products.

'India has been a steadfast and development partner of Nepal. Through this project, the Embassy of India complements the efforts of the Government of Nepal in augmenting infrastructure in the field of agriculture marketing sector. In the last two years, India has also trained 59 agriculture scientists, farmers and agriculture policymakers in the areas of organic farming, soil testing and fertiliser science in premier Indian agriculture centres in the National Capital Region of Delhi,' read the release.

A version of this article appears in the print on March 11, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.