KATHMANDU, Oct 2: During the festive season, fair price shops, which are operated with the aim of controlling the prices of daily consumables and providing consumer goods at concessional rates, have attracted consumers to a greater extent.
Due to the discounts given on daily consumables, the attraction of consumers has increased to such shops. The government's Food Management and Trading Company (FMTC) started running fair price shops at 45 locations in 41 districts from September 17. The fair price shops are operating in four locations in Kathmandu alone. These shops will be open till November 1.
Fair price shops across country
Shrimaniraj Khanal, deputy general manager of the company, said that the prices of daily consumables are lower at fair price shops run by FMTC as compared to other markets. "There is a crowd of consumers at the company's outlets in the districts, including Kathmandu," he said, "The fair price shops are attractive to consumers, and consumer goods are being sold enthusiastically all over the country.”
The company has set a target of selling daily consumables worth Rs 54 million in a month. According to the company, goods worth Rs 15 million have been sold and more than 1000 quintals of food items have been sold in a period of 15 days.
Apart from the outlets, the company is also taking food orders online and providing free home delivery. Deputy General Manager Khanal said that the company is delivering food items to homes for free from online service providers such as gogo20 and Daraz. Home delivery service is in operation in Kathmandu, Pokhara and Surkhet. Food items such as dal, rice, oil, salt and pulses are available at the fair price shops. Along with the company, the Dairy Development Corporation and National Trading Limited are also selling consumer goods at reasonable prices.
