By Laxman Kafle

Kathmandu, Apr. 9: Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Lekhraj Bhatta Wednesday inspected the wholesale market and inquired about the stock of essential goods with the wholesalers.
Minister Bhatta along with secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies Baikuntha Aryal, Director General of the Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection Netra Prasad Subedi observed the wholesale market in Kalimati and Kuleshwor areas and inquired about the present stock of daily goods in their godowns.
During the inspection, Minister Bhatta urged the traders to support the government to supply essential goods to the market during the crisis.
“The traders should not do business focusing only on profit during the critical situation faced by the country. The positive role of everyone, including the traders, is a must to combat COVID-19 and ease the supply of everyday commodities to the consumers,” he said.
He said that the government would take stringent actions against those who get involved in black-marketing cashing in on the abnormal situation now.
Responding to the queries of the wholesalers, he said that the government would provide passes to the traders for the transportation of vegetables and other goods to the market.
Minister Bhatta also said that the traders should arrange for the accommodation facilities for the truck drives and loaders nearby the godowns and warehouses if required for easing their movement during the period of lockdown.
Minister Bhatta said that there was no problem of supplying essential goods to the market except for issuing passes to the traders as they were asking the government to issue passes to transport essential goods from one place to another.
President of Nepal Wholesalers’ Association Devendra Bhakta Shrestha said that the wholesalers of the Kalimati and Kuleshwor area showed the stock of essential goods in their godowns.
“The present stock of essential goods at the wholesalers will meet the demand of around 20-25 days of the Valley. There will be no problem of everyday goods in the market if the supply of goods continues from the factories,” he told The Rising Nepal.
According to him, most of factories of rice and lentils production are in the Terai region, so the government should facilitate to transport rice, lentils and other daily commodities to the Kathmandu Valley and other places to ease their supply in the market.
“In my view, there will not be any problem of rice and lentils in the market as the large numbers of families have already stocked them to meet one/two months demand in fear of shortage due to COVID-19 spreading in the world,” he said.
Stating that the traders were facing problem to open their market in the absence of passes during the lockdown, he requested Minister Bhatta and representatives of the government to manage passes for the traders and their workers to come to the shops and godown.
“The traders who are willing to open retail and wholesale business of essential goods adopting the precaution of COVID-19 based on the government direction are unable to open shops even for a certain period due to lack of proper arrangement of local administration,” he said.
He said that the government should also issue passes for the retailers to open shops for a certain period adopting the safety measures against COVID-19 as retailers who live away from the shops are unable to open shops in the absence of passes to walk during the lockdown.