Are groups collecting relief materials really genuine?
KATHMANDU:
In the wake of the devastating earthquake that rocked the country on Saturday, a large number of groups have been buying dry food items from various shops in the name of relief distribution. However, traders suspect whether all such groups are genuinely working to distribute the much needed edibles to the quake survivors or are hoarding the supplies.
According to Nepal Retailers Association (NRA), some groups may be hoarding the food items, while some might even be involved in black-marketing.
To ensure that people are not engaging in such ill-practices, NRA has requested the government to issue identity cards for relief workers who wish to distribute food to the affected people, according to NRA President Pavitra Bajracharya.
“I’ve witnessed more than 10 such groups buying food items for relief distribution in a day from my shop at Swayambhu,” said Bajracharya. “If this trend persists, there will be shortage of dry food and other edibles in Kathmandu within a few days.”
To make sure that the situation does not go out of hand, NRA has been urging retailers to limit the sales of basic commodities like rice, lentils and salt, among others to sustain a family for one month at a time.
“If a person resorts to panic buying and purchases four sacks of rice for his family, as against only two sacks a month earlier, it will distort the market,” Bajracharya asserted.
He further said that while retailers could convince their regular customers not to hoard food items without much of a hassle, they have been facing difficulties with groups of people who come to buy ‘relief materials’.
Retailers also voice security concerns, fearing that such groups could turn rowdy if they are asked to limit the amount of their purchase or refused to be given all the items on the shelves.
Retailers had a meeting with the combined market monitoring team led by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) comprising officials of Department of Commerce and Supply Management, District Administrative Offices of the three districts of Kathmandu Valley and officials of the Department of Revenue Investigation on Thursday and informed them about the situation.
The government has assured NRA that it will set up ‘fair price’ shops at different locations of the city with an aim to facilitate relief collectors. The government can monitor if the collectors are genuine or not after that, as per Devendra Bhakta Shrestha, president of Nepal Wholesalers Association (NWA).
The government is mulling over inviting wholesalers to sell their goods from the fair price shops that will be set up in different locations of the city, where the public will also be able to purchase necessary commodities, informed Shambhu Ghimire, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies.
Retailers say their stocks of dry food namely, noodles, bhujiya, dalmoth, chiura and biscuits, among others, are fast depleting due to the relief collectors buying these items in large numbers over the last two to three days.
Kathmandu Valley, with its population of four million, is in itself the largest consumer of a number of commodities and is on the verge of facing acute shortage of dry food if the government does not screen the genuine relief collectors on time.
Nonetheless, NWA has said that they have enough stock to meet the demand for the next three months, even without any additional imports. However, the commodities have not been supplied in the market because most of the Indian businesspersons involved in the wholesale business are currently not in the country.
NWA President Shrestha said that the local wholesalers have also failed to supply the commodities to the shops, as their workers have rushed to their villages after the quake.
“The situation will return to normal after the Indian businesspeople involved in wholesale business come back,” he said. “Moreover, the workers are also expected to return to work within a few weeks.”
Source: THT
