Lokta Paper Standards To Be Fixed by June-End

In mid-Asad, the Nepal Bureau of Standards and Measurement will decide the minimum standards required for Nepali Lokta paper to be used in government documentation.

A committee of the Nepal Handmade Paper Association (HANDPASS) along with Lokta paper experts will be interacting with the standards bureau for proper standards of Nepali Lokta paper that is to be used from the new fiscal year in government documentations.

“The standards bureau will soon fix the standards according to the use of paper for documentation purposes,” said Dr Milan Dev Bhattarai, president of HANDPASS.

Nepali handmade paper recently got approval to be re-used in government correspondence and it has already got its brand registration with the EU. In the past, the paper used to be compulsory for government legal correspondence but it was suddenly discarded.

According to Bhattarai, the bu- reau will decide the parameters including thickness, size, tearing strength, printability of the paper, weight of the paper, colour of the ink to be used and other minimum standards

“ We think the handmade paper that is to be used in citizenship certificates should at least have a weight of 250-350 gram per square metre (GSM) while in the case of Tippani Aadesh the standard weight should at least be 30 GSM,” said Bhattarai adding that the weight of paper may vary from 12, 50 to 60 GSM

“We have an open-border problem, but it will be definitely minimised by quality consciousness in customers,” he said.

Talking about the procurement cost of handmade paper at the government level, he said it needs at least a budget of Rs 20 million for the new fiscal year.

Along with it, the total turnover of the government will increase to Rs 40 million.The technical committee also has forwarded proposals regarding the use of Nepali handmade paper for the preparation of citi zenship certificates. According to Bhattarai an in- crease of about 15 per cent was observed in the total export of Nepali handmade paper this year compared to the last fiscal year. Paper worth Rs 300 million was exported during the present fiscal year.

Major countries importing Nepali Lokta paper are Switzerland, England, France, Germany, the USA, Canada, Japan and Australia.

The major exportable items of Lokta paper are in the form of packaging paper, stationery items and greeting cards.

Aside from the export factor, HANDPASS is also trying to promote the use of handmade paper in hotels, restaurants, private offices and organisations at home.