State owned companies to provide goods at discount for festive season

Kathmandu Oct 16- Three state-owned entities, Nepal Food Corporation (NFC), National Trading Limited (NTL) and Salt Trading Corporation (STC) will be selling various goods at discounted prices from their premises from Friday. These government companies have been operating fair prices shops annually to prevent black marketing and make essential goods available conveniently during the festival rush.

 

A few days ago, a meeting held between the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies and these companies decided not to operate joint fair price shops in view of the lack of gasoline for their vehicles, making it impossible to keep the outlets supplied with stock. Instead, the meeting decided that the Department of Commerce and Supplies would provide the necessary fuel to transport goods from the main warehouse of these entities to their outlets.

 

Meanwhile, STC has decided to provide a discount of Rs5 per kg on sugar and a discount of Rs2 on salt. Customers will be able to buy sugar at Rs60 per kg and salt at Rs16 per kg from its outlets located at Kalimati, Satungal and Koteshwor in Kathmandu and Suryabinayak in Bhaktapur and Banepa. According to STC, it has 11,000 tonnes of sugar and 97,000 tonnes of salt in stock. It will also be selling rice, pulses, edible oil and spices. But there is no discount on these items. “Apart from sugar and salt, we are trying to provide whatever essential items we have in stock,” said Kumar Rajbhandari, deputy general manager of STC.

 

 Likewise, NFC will provide a discount of Rs5 per kg on rice and pulses. The corporation is selling Jeera Masino rice at Rs58 per kg and Basmati rice at Rs99 per kg. NFC has 29,000 tonnes of rice and pulses in stock. The state-owned corporation will be selling he-goats and mountain goats through its outlet located at Thapathali. Shree Mani Khanal, spokesperson of NFC, said that they had not been able to bring as many goat as planned. According to him, 700 goats and 350 sheep will arrive on Friday from Makwanpur, Hetauda and Mustang districts. “Fewer goats and sheep will be available this year as the unrest in the Tarai has hampered the collection process,” said Khanal. The corporation used to procure goats from Nepalgunj, Banke, Surkhet, Salyan, Dang, Gaighat and Siraha, among other locations in the Tarai.

 

Similarly, NTL will be selling various essential goods and home appliances through its outlet located at Teku. “Although we have not been able to open joint fair price shops like last year, we are trying to provide relief to festival shoppers by offering goods at a discount from our outlet,” said Gita Niroula, sales manager at NTL. Source: RSS