KATHMANDU, July 12: The government has formed a committee to study pros and cons of the implementation of ration cards for systemizing distribution of everyday consumable goods.

The decision came about a month after Consumer Protection Council (CPC) directed the government to introduce ration cards for making supply of daily commodities effective.

The panel, which is led by Uttam Prasad Nagila, joint secretary of the Ministry of Supplies (MoS), has been asked to prepare a detailed report regarding implementation of ration cards. It has been given three months to prepare the report.

The panel has one representative each from the Ministry of Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation (MoCPA), Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development (MoFALD), Department of Supply and Consumer Welfare Protection (DoSCWP), Market Analysis Division of MoS and consumer rights firms.     

The committee has been asked to study and analyze ration cards system implemented in neighboring countries.

Aananda Ram Regmi, spokesperson of MoS, said that the committee will study feasibility, prospects and challenges of implementing ration cards in Nepal. “The committee will be responsible for preparing detailed report on implementing ration cards in Nepal. It will also make suggestions on measures that the government will need to adopt for successful implementation of ration cards system in Nepal,” Regmi added.

Ration cards will enable poor people to purchase everyday consumable goods in the outlets of government-owned enterprises at subsidized rates.

The will get good at subsidized rates in the outlets of Nepal Food Cooperation (NFC), Salt Trading Corporation (STC) and National Trading Limited (NTL) across the country.

A source at MoS said that the Ministry of Finance has already given green signal to the public enterprises to open fair price shops in different parts of the country.

Consumer right activists have said that ration cards system should be implemented without further delay. “It should have been implemented much earlier,” Madhav Timalsina, president of Consumer Rights Investigation Forum (CRIF), said, adding: “The government should strictly monitor the implementation side and other anomalies in the market once ration card system is introduced.”

 
• consumer protection council
 
• ministry of federal affairs and local development
 
• ration cards