Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Poudel, while reading our the annual budget on Saturday, announced a 20 percent discount on food purchased from state-run Food Management and Trading Company (FMTC) and Salt Trading Corporation (STC) during the period of the prohibitory orders.
He said that 20 percent discount will be provided on the purchase of rice, flour, pulses, salt, cooking oil, sugar and cooking gas sold by FMTC and STC during the prohibitory period.
Following the announcement, hundreds of consumers have been calling FMTC and STC with hopes of getting a discount while ordering food items.
However FMTC has not yet received any official information and instruction about the discount from the government, said Sharmila Neupane, information officer of the Company.
“Just like the general public, we too heard about the government’s decision during the budget announcement. As we have not received any official decision from the government on providing discount, FMTC is not offering any discount at the moment,” she said.
FMTC also stated that it was not possible to provide discounts to the consumers immediately due to a lack of preparation and coordination.
The situation in STC is similar to FMTC. Urmila Shrestha, executive director of STC, said that the number of consumers calling for orders after hearing the discount announcement during the annual budget had skyrocketed.
Shrestha said that STC had not received any written or formal circular in this regard.
“The budget says we will provide 20 percent discount on food and gas, but we do not have any formal circular or information about the exemption. We have heard just as much as you have heard in the budget, we do not know anything more,” said Shrestha.
STC has been selling pulses, rice, oil, flour, gas and other commodities in the Kathmandu Valley one three vehicles since May 28.
Similarly, FMTC is also providing delivery services through its web portal. The corporation has been delivering food items from a minimum of Rs 2,000 to a maximum of Rs 15,000 across the Valley.
