Kathmandu, September 26:

Representatives of the Federation of Nepalese Beverage Entrepreneurs and Distributors (FNBED) today met the office-bearers of Nepal Chambers of Commerce (NCC) and asked them to press the government for an extension of another six months for effectively disposing of all liquor stocks.

In his budget statement for the year 2008-09, Finance Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai had directed that general provisions shops must remove all stocks of liquor within six months.

According to NCC president Surendra Bir Malakar, the decision regarding effective management of liquor was certainly appreciable from the social point of view. He, however, added that the time frame of six months provided to people engaged in this business was very short.

Malakar also said that the government should lend a hand for the effective monitoring of the disposal of liquor stocks. During the meeting with NCC, FNBED also urged it to focus on the different problems this business sector is facing.