All proposals for agri-tourism grant disqualified

Published On: January 16, 2018 05:45 AM NPT By: Arpana Ale Magar

Vegetables Development Directorate publishing notice for proposals again

KATHMANDU, Jan 16: Vegetables Development Directorate (VDD) has disqualified all the proposals for agritourism grant.

The directorate had received 15 proposals for the grant. But none of them met the criteria prescribed in the project framework, say VDD officials.

“We had received 15 proposals from seven districts,” Khemraj Joshi, senior vegetable development officer of VDD said. “Not a single of them met the criteria prescribed in our project framework.”

Ministry of Agricultural Development (MoAD) is implementing the grant program to support livelihood of farmers through development and promotion of agro-tourism. Vegetables Development Directorate is the implementing agency of the program.

Earlier, the VDD had sought a proposal from homestay operators, tourism development committees and farmer's forum of Kavre, Sunsari, Chitwan, Kathmandu, Udayapur, Kailali, Solukhumbu and Nuwakot districts on November 8.

Selected projects will receive a grant of Rs 2.5 million each.

According to Joshi, a proposal sent form Chitwan did not reach the directorate within the given timeframe.

The project committee is now preparing to request the applicant to rework their proposal as per the criteria and submit it again. “We have now decided to republish the notice, requesting all the applicants to resubmit their proposals within 15 days,” Joshi said. “We are giving 15 more days to the applicants to rework their proposals. New applicants can also submit the proposal for the grant.”

According to the committee, proposal of a particular district must be registered with respective District Agriculture Development Office. “We have clearly said that the proposal must be registered at the respective District Agriculture Development Office, not in Kathmandu. Many applicants that we received were registered in Kathmandu even though their projects are based in other districts,” Joshi said.

Similarly, some applicants did not even have Permanent Account Number (PAN), according to Joshi. “As we cannot approve proposal of applicants that do not have PAN number, we have decided to give some time for the applicants to rework their proposal. We might get some new proposals too,” he added.