Kathmandu. The salt available in the market for Rs 30 to Rs 35 per kg is up to Rs 200 in the remote villages of the northern part of Gorkha. Due to the lack of access to road network and the high cost of transportation, the residents of Chumnubri Rural Municipality are compelled to buy daily essentials as well as salt at a high price.
The Salt Trading Corporation, which supplies salt in Nepal, has fixed the price of Ayao salt at Rs 26 per kg, New Shakti at Rs 20 and Bhanu at Rs 9 per kg. However, in various settlements of Chumnubri Rural Municipality across the Himalayas, the price of salt is Rs 60 to Rs 200 per packet. The more remote the village, the higher the price of salt.
In the Manaslu region, the price of salt per packet is Rs 200 per packet in Samgaon and Samdo on the Tibetan border. Nima Dorje, a local, said that it costs Rs 100 to transport a packet of salt to Samdo, which is available at Rs 30 in the lower areas.
“The transportation fare for bringing a packet of salt from Pangsing to Samdo is only Rs 100. The transportation cost from Arughat and Arkhet to Pangsing is different. After that, the shopkeeper makes a profit of Rs 5 to Rs 10 and the price of one packet of salt goes up to Rs 200,” he said.
In Lho village of Ward No. 2, a little below Samagaun, the food transport fare is Rs 80 per kg, so the price of a packet of iron is Rs 150. In Bihi, a local of the rural municipality, salt is available at Rs 100 per packet, said Kalden Chhewang, a local. “The fare of transporting goods by mule from Pangsing to Bihi is Rs 25 per kg in winter. At that time, the price of salt is Rs 100,” he said, adding, “In the rainy season, the transportation fare goes up to Rs 70 per kg. The price of the goods also increases accordingly.” Locals said that the price of salt per kg in Ward No. 4 Proc also ranges from Rs 100 to Rs 170 per kg depending on the transportation cost.
Similarly, the residents of Chhule and Nile, the last settlements in the Chum Valley, pay between Rs 180 and Rs 200 per packet of Ionun. In these settlements, which are a one-and-a-half-to two-day walk from Pangsing, the transportation of goods by mule costs Rs 60 per kg. Pasang Phunjo Lama of Lamagaon said that the transportation fare is Rs 55 per kg to Lamagaon and Rs 50 per kg to Chhekam village of Chekampar. In the villages of Chekampar, a packet of salt costs Rs 150.
In Chumling Rural Municipality-6, a packet of salt costs Rs 100, said Gopal Lama, a local. According to him, it costs Rs 30 per kg to transport food grains from Pangsing to Chumling.
The government has been implementing a transportation subsidy program to provide salt at subsidized rates to the residents of remote mountainous areas. The Salt Trading Corporation has been given the responsibility of managing the program. Sagar Sherchan, chief of Gandaki Province of the Corporation, said that the corporation has sent 350 quintals of ginger salt to Sirdibas of North Gorkha in the current fiscal year.
“The corporation sends salt as per the demand of northern Gorkha. We send salt at the rate of Rs 28 per kg from here,” he said, adding, “The government provides transportation cost to the contractor who transports salt from Pokhara to Sirdibas.” ’
The salt sent by the government through transportation subsidy has not been able to reach all the remote settlements of northern Gorkha. Pasang Phunjo Lama of Chumnubri Rural Municipality-7 said that the subsidized salt is consumed in the Sirdibas area.
“The government subsidizes transportation to transport salt to Jagat. From there, it takes four days to reach Samagaon and Samdo and three days to reach Chekampar. So, we have to pay the transportation fare,” he said.
The Nepal Army has opened the track of the road from the center of the rural municipality to Pewa a little above. However, the motor has reached only up to Pangsing. The army has been given the responsibility of opening the track of the road from Hawadanda on the Benighat-Arughat-Larke road to Larke Bhanjyang on the border of China. Due to budget constraints and resource security problems, the construction of the road has not gained momentum. As a result, except for Chumnubri Rural Municipality-3, Sirdibas, six other wards are still out of the reach of the road network.
Kumari Gurung, a local, said that the price of iron is Rs 60 per packet, which is Rs 30 per packet. She said that the price increases due to the transportation cost of food from Arkhet to the film.
Mules are the main means of transporting food to the settlements above Pangsing in Ward No. 3. Bir Bahadur Lama, a businessman of Samagaun, said that the transportation fare of food grains to Samagaun and Samdo, the last settlements of Manaslu area, from mules to Khachhad will cost Rs 100 per kg. According to him, after a three-day walk, the cost of transporting food grains to the village is Rs 100 per kg.
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