Government assures it has sufficient food stock; Modi receives over 50,000 questions about its stance to Nepal

Kathmandu / September 27: At a time when the country is facing shortage of petroleum products due to unannounced blockade of India, the government has said that it has sufficient food stuffs in stock and urged general public not to panic.

According to government source, the state-owned Nepal Food Corporation (NFC) has 7,800 tons of rice, wheat and beans in stock in Kathmandu Valley alone. Similarly, government warehouses across the country have 120,000 tons of sugar and 113,000 tons of salt in stock.

Government officials say the market is unlikely to see shortage of commodities anytime soon as they have sufficient food in stock and that the country is self-sufficient in food commodities.

Republica daily quoted Hari Narayan Belbase, director of Department of Commerce and Supply Management (DoCSM), as saying that there won’t be shortage of food commodities. “Our stock of rice, wheat and beans will last for months. Similarly, we have sufficient salt and sugar in stock to meet demand of one year and five months, respectively,” added Belbase.

He also said the obstruction in supplies from India won’t affect food supply in domestic market. “The blockade has, however, seriously affected supply of fuel as India is the sole supplier of petroleum products to Nepal,” Belbase said, adding, “People should wisely use available petroleum products. Priority should be given to public vehicles and vehicles used to transport essential commodities.”

Urmila Shrestha, general manager of Salt Trading Corporation (STC), said the corporation has sufficient salt in stock. “But demand for sugar and salt has increased notably,” Shrestha said, adding, “As per the current demand, our stock is sufficient to meet the demand for at least seven months.”

With the shortage of petroleum products, people got worried about the stock of food items as some entrepreneurs are trying to create artificial shortage and taking high rate for the commodities. The government has also said that it will expedite the monitoring of market to avoid artificial shortage and strong action shall be taken against any person / institution involved in such act.

Consumer activists have urged the government to control artificial shortage of essential goods and take action against those involved in such activities. Stating that some traders have been taking undue benefits of shortage of different commodities, they have urged the government to intensify market monitoring activities and take action against wrongdoers accordingly.

Issuing a press statement on Sunday, Forum for Protection of Consumers Rights (FPCR) said, “All stakeholders should act responsibly to control arbitrary rise in price of essential commodities, artificial shortage, and black-marketing activities,” it added. Meanwhile, FPCR have also urged agitating parties and groups to end protest programs in Tarai and help easy supply of essential goods through all entry points.

The government is trying to make smooth supply of petroleum products as well. The government has been able to enter some petroleum products to the country despite obstruction from agitating parties. The tarai based parties have been trying to impose blockade to the Kathmandu valley expressing their anger over the new constitution. Although the parties have been claiming that they are compelled to do so for the sake of people’s rights but most poor and marginalized people are being affected from their activities.

“We did not have cooking gas nor do we have money to eat food at the restaurant how can we survive with empty stomach,” questions Ram Lal BK of Rasuwa district, who has been earning bread and butter for five members of his family by working as a daily wage earner. The agitators say that they are protesting for the rights of the people like me but we are hardly hit by such protest as the rich people have sufficient storage of food items and cooking gas, he adds. Not only Ram Lal thousands of people like him have been affected from the strike. However, the leaders of agitating parties are yet to listen their woes.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Facebook Headquarters in California, USA on Sunday. As earlier said by Facebook CEO Mark Zukerberg, Modi will also indulge in a live chat session from the Facebook Headquarters.

Modi, who is in USA to attend the 70th Session of the UN General Assembly, will engage in a question-answer session with Facebook users around the world. Zukerberg’s Facebook status would serve as a questioning platform and Modi is expected to answer the queries via live chat.

After knowing about the session, many resident and non-resident Nepali nationals have been posting queries, intended towards PM Modi, about India’s interest in Nepal’s new constitution and the ‘unannounced blockade’ imposed by India to Nepal-bound freight and goods.

Till now more than 50,000 questions have flooded in comment-box and they include topics like Candycrush, social networking and Nepal-India relations.

After being unhappy over the promulgation of constitution in Nepal, India has been imposing unannounced blockade of landlocked country Nepal. Not only Nepali people some Indian people have expressed dissatisfaction over the Indian government’s move. Similarly, Pakistan and China have expressed dissatisfaction over India’s role and offering all the possible support to Nepal. India has been trying to impose its will in neighbouring countries and giving unnecessary pressure to them if they failed to abide by its suggestion. India is unhappy with Nepal as it failed to address India’s suggestions in the new constitution.