Kathmandu, September 23
Government-owned enterprises have started selling daily consumer goods at subsidised prices targeting the upcoming Dashain, Tihar and Chhath festivals.
Salt Trading Corporation and Food Management and Trading Company Limited have opened fair-price shops at various locations across the country. However, the government will not sell goats, sheep and mountain goats at subsidised prices this year, a practice it has followed during Dashain to help control market prices.
Salt Trading offers discounts at 45 locations
Salt Trading Corporation has been operating fair-price shops through 38 sales centres across the country, including the Kathmandu Valley, since September 17. It is providing discounted food items through 13 stalls and three mobile vans in the Kathmandu Valley and 25 locations outside the Valley.
According to the corporation’s information officer Kumar Rajbhandari, consumers will receive discounts of Rs 5 per kilogram on sugar, Rs 2 on salt and Rs 7 per kilogram on edible oil, rice, beaten rice, flour and other products. Sugar is available at Rs 100 per kilogram, with a limit of two kilograms per person.
“We have started the fair-price shops from September 17 until the end of Kartik (Chhath festival), as in previous years,” Rajbhandari said. “At present, sales are being made through our own counters in the Valley, while three vans have been arranged to supply goods to other locations where there is demand.”
Food company offers discounts in 44 districts but no livestock sales
Food Management and Trading Company Limited has also been operating fair-price shops since the last week of Shrawan with the objective of providing subsidised goods to consumers throughout the year.
With an approved government budget of Rs 35 million, the company is operating the shops through provincial offices, main branch offices, branch offices and depot offices in 44 districts, including 26 remote districts.
According to the company’s information officer Madhav Mishra, consumers are receiving discounts of Rs 5 per kilogram or litre on rice, lentils, edible oil, sugar, pulses and local crops such as chino, kaguno and buckwheat. The fair-price shops, which started on September 13, are being operated in coordination with local governments.
However, the company will not sell goats, sheep and mountain goats at subsidised prices during Dashain this year, citing a lack of budget. The company has sold livestock at subsidised prices during the festival every year to prevent unusual increases in meat prices.
“Although we are providing discounts on daily food items and local crops through our sales centres across the country, no budget has been allocated this year to purchase goats, sheep and mountain goats. Therefore, we have decided not to bring subsidised livestock to the Kathmandu Valley,” Mishra said.
Last year, the company had also opened online bookings for goats, sheep and mountain goats. The company said it had to cancel the bookings after roads were blocked by continuous rainfall and has decided not to offer the service this year from the outset.
Traders have said that around 35,000 to 40,000 goats, sheep and mountain goats are in demand in the Kathmandu Valley alone during Dashain.
