MUSTANG, July 17: Due to the sheer negligence of the government, salt mine located in Upper Mustang has remained close since many years. In the past years, the salt was processed using traditional skills and techniques and was supplied to different parts of the country.
Locals used to sell the salt travelling to the different parts to make a living. The government never paid attention and didn’t make any efforts to manage the salt mine.
With the passage of the time, people stopped using the local salt after the government started to aware the people not to use the salt that doesn’t contains iodine. Then, the market of the local salt dried up as the producers became demoralized.
Dharma Gurung of Chusang says, “It's been 15 years since the extraction of that local salt has stopped. The extraction came to a complete halt after it was publicized that consuming the salt without iodine causes goiter.”
Now, the packaged salt imported from India has replaced the local salt.
Govt team arrives in Mustang for mine research
Minister for Industry Som Prasad Pandey and officials at the Department of Mines and Geology had recently reached the salt mine for the first time. It’s the responsibility of the Department of Mines and Geology to study and extract the mine. But, the department was uninformed about the salt mine on Mustang for years. In the last 20 years, the department didn’t do any notable works about salt mine.
“Department didn’t even study about the mine. Any notable work hasn’t been done till now," Acting Chief Rajendra Khanal at the Department of Mines and Geology's told Republica Online," This time we reached the mine. We will find out the quantity of the mine and its implication”.
"I still remember that my forefathers used to bring the salt from Mustang" said Minister Pandey," Now, I saw the mine of the salt that I used to eat in my childhood.”
Minister Pandey said that the study of the salt mine that was neglected since 20 years has now started.
He said," I have directed Department of Mines and Geology to find out the quantity of salt and bring it for professional use."
He also claimed that the discussions on the mines located in Nepal were never held.
"Study and extraction of the mines have started," he said, “I’m not technically sound, but as a general Nepali, after witnessing the mine, I can say that there are various valuable and useful materials underneath Nepal, we just lack leadership and plans to study, investigate and implement," Minister Pandey added.
