Under the policy, the government would distribute 17 essential commodities through its outlets to underprivileged groups at subsidized rate through distribution fair-price cards (ration cards). [break]
The MoCS which has already organized rounds of consultation with stakeholders, is approving the policy soon before taking to the cabinet for endorsement.
The policy which is going to be finalized by the MoCS, has make it mandatory to private producers of essential commodities such as sugar, rice and flour, to sell certain percentage of their production to the government that would utilization those commodities during the period when state intervention is required in the market.
“The government would strengthen buffer stock of those commodities by procuring from local producers and sell through state-run corporations involved in distributing essential commodities,” Jeeb Raj Ghimire, under-secretary at the MoCS told Republica on Thursday. The government has been maintaining a buffer stock of 15000 tons.
The state-owned National Trading Ltd (NTL) is preparing to supply a ration package with reasonable price targeting lower strata of people. The package includes rice, edible oil, salt, sugar, pulses, among others.
At a time when there is no clear definition of hoarding or storage of commodities, the policy has provisioned a committee to be headed by the Minister for Commerce and Supplies to take decision whether stocked goods are stored or hoarded by traders.
“We have been facing practical problem in punishing those involved in hoarding of commodities in the absence of clear definition of hoarding.
The policy would pave the way for taking action against those involved profiteering by creating artificial shortage goods as the committee has authority whether those goods are stocked or hoarded,” Ghimire said.
The policy has also incorporated the provision to depute a Food Security Officer in each district for assessing the demands for foods, taking stock of supply situation, arrange smooth supplies and monitor the quality of foods in the respective districts.
In the absence of effective monitoring in the market, the policy has envisaged to set up a mechanism in which monitoring will be conducted at central, regional and district levels to strengthen the monitoring system to ensure fair practice in the market.
“Provision of strengthening the capacity and giving more teeth to Department of Commerce (DoC) has also been incorporated in the policy,” Ghimire added. In the absence of sufficient authority, the task of DoC has been limited to only monitoring the market.
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