Monday, September 9, 2019

Government opens fair price shops in 73 places across the country

The government has today opened 73 fair price shops in seven provinces across the country targeting major festive including Dashain, Tihar and Chhath.
Every year government sets up fair price shops during the festive season aiming to control the arbitrary hike in price of food items and other goods in the market. Aiming to control market during festive season, the government has also deployed market monitoring teams in association with DoCSCP, Department of Food Technology and Quality Control, Department of Livestock Development, Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology and other concerned authorities.
The Salt Trading Corporation (STC), Dairy Development Corporation (DDC) and Food Management and Trade Company (FMTC) have opened the fair price shops, according to Department of Commerce, Supply and Consumer Protection. “The STC is operating a total of 35 fair price outlets, including three mobile outlets, while Food Management and DDC are operating 23 and 15 fair price shops, respectively, within and outside the Valley.”
The fair price shops that will be opened till November 2 could not be opened in all 77 districts, the department said, adding that the STC and DDC do not have a network across the country to set up outlets in all the districts, though the government is trying to expand the area of Food Management and Trade Company (FMTC) that is recently formed by merging Nepal Food Corporation (NFC) and National Trading Ltd (NTL).
But the number of fair price shops has increased this year to 73 compared to the last year, when the government had opened fair price shops in 47 places across the country.
The STC is operating nine fair shops inside the Valley – at Kalimati, Koteshwor, Teku, Singha Durbar, Satungal, and other places of Lalitpur and Bhaktapur – and 24 different outside the valley in different places of Banepa, Birtamod, Biratnagar, Rajbiraj and Lahan.
Likewise FMTC has set up five outlets inside Kathmandu, while it is operating 18 outlets outside the Valley. The DDC has four outlets inside the Valley and 11 outside the Valley.
The fair price shops offer special discounts on different food items. The FMTC outlets are giving discounts from Rs 5 to Rs 10 per kg of rice. Likewise there will be discount of Rs 10 per kg in beans, Rs 10 a kg in meat of mountain goats and goats. The company has also targeted to sell around 2,000 mountain goats and 1,000 goats in this festive season.
Likewise, STC is offering discount of Rs 2 per kg salt and Rs 5 on a kg of sugar, whereas DDC is offering discount of Rs 50 on per kg ghee and Rs 10 on per kg paneer. 

No comments: