MANMA (KALIKOT), SEP 17 - People here in Kalikot and Jumla districts fear a dull Dashain this year. This is not surprising given the unprecedented price hikes they have had to live with, thanks to local businessmen who have found one pretext or the other to jack up prices.

Prices of essential commodities like salt, edible oil, rice and pulses, among others, have more than doubled with businessmen stating that the only road linking the district was destroyed by landslides.

 “Local businessmen here have even raised the prices of salt and rice even though the government provides 100 percent subsidy for transportation of these items,” says Dhansingh Bishwokarma, a local of Manma.

One kilogram of rice used to cost Rs. 27 and one litre of edible oil could be bought at Rs. 55 last year. Now the prices for these items have reached Rs. 35 and Rs. 90 respectively. The price of pulses has gone up from Rs. 65 per kilogram last year to Rs. 145 this year.

“The local administration has not done anything to curb this tendency among entrepreneurs,” complains Bishwokarma.

Locals here accuse businessmen of taking undue advantage on the pretext that the road was destroyed and then raising the prices of all commodities. According to them, local businessmen are trying to cash in on the high demand during the festival season by raising prices.

The alarm sounded by the district branch of the Forum for Consumers’ Rights Protection (FCRP) in Kalikot  appears to have landed on the deaf ears of the local administration.

“There is a provision for constituting a market monitoring commi-ttee under the coordination of the chief district officer, but we have not been able to implement it,” says Acting Chief District Officer Buddhi Prasad Sapkota.

“The administration should take stern action against businessmen who unnecessarily increase prices,” says FCRP coordinator Bishwa Raj Bam.

However, Rasheka Shahi, a local entrepreneur, attributes the hike in prices to the destroyed road. “We have seen a slight hike, but prices are on the rise everywhere.”


PRICES HIT CEILING

 Rice price up by 30 percent

 Edible oil up from Rs. 55 to 90 per litre

 Pulses price up by over 100 percent

 Local administration least bothered

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