JEMC has stopped sending the school textbooks in the market for selling and stockpiled the books after it could not increase the price of the textbooks.[break]
Similarly, come Monday and all works at JEMC are set to come to a standstill as the corporation could not open the tender bids that it had called for purchasing paper.
Managing Director of the Centre Birendra Kumar Das said JEMC is going into loss as the textbook prices have not been adjusted since the last ten years.
Das said the loss incurred by the Limited has reached Rs. 120 million. According to the JEMC management, the corporation will incur an additional loss of Rs. 140 million if the price of the textbooks is not adjusted this year also.
Das claimed JEMC has been selling books at the rate of Rs. 0.21 to Rs. 0.26 per page since 2057 BS and the textbook price has not increased although there has been a cent per cent increase in the price of paper and ink and the transport fare.
JEMC had proposed to increase the price by Rs. 0.31 to Rs. 0.32 per page over the last three years but the JEMC Board of Directors has failed to agree on raising the price.
A member of the JEMC Board of Directors said Minister for Education Sarbendranath Shukla does not want to be dragged into controversy by increasing the price of textbooks soon after becoming the Education Minister and the Education Secretary and chairman of the Centre Dipendra Bikram Thapa and coordinator and Director General of the Department of Education Haribol Khanal are against raising the price of textbooks because they would be deprived of hefty sums in commission by doing so.
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