The shortage has been caused by continuous banda in Tarai districts. These materials come from Birgunj which is among the places that have been shut down by Tharus for the past several days.
Besides Rara – South Asia’s first-ever noodle – other industries are also on the verge of closure due to lack of raw materials. Some of the biscuit factories are likely to shut down too if they do not get the required supplies in time.
Himshree Food Pvt Ltd that produces daily four to five thousand cartons of Rara, Aaha and Fewa noodles is shutting down its production unit. The company had been reducing its daily production in the absence of the raw materials.
“We have already slashed the production,” said Aniruddha Acharya, manager at the company. “Now we are facing the added problem of getting the ready noodles to our markets due to the banda in the Tarai.”
Acharya said the company – that employs about 160 people – would have to bear a loss of about Rs 150,000 for a single day of closure.
Pokhara Food Pvt Ltd that produces biscuit brands like Tasty Cracker, Marie, Butter Nice, Coconut, among others, has made drastic cuts in its production due to thin supply of sugar, flour and ghee. The company now brings out half its daily production of about 10 tons.
Senior manager of the company Krishna Basyal said that if the supplies were affected by another four or five days, the company might have to halt its production altogether.
Shankar Biscuit Pvt Ltd is facing a similar crisis.
Manager of the company Baburam Sapkota said that the company has not been able to deliver 1500 cartons of biscuits for which it had taken the orders. He added that rising cost of sugar as well as its unavailability has led to a daily loss of about 7000 rupees.
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