Salt prices in Chumanubri

Residents of the remote Chumanubri Rural Municipality in Gorkha are paying up to Rs 200 for a packet of salt, against a market price of Rs 30 to Rs 35 a kilogram, according to a report by the national news agency RSS carried by Nagarik News, Setopati and Ratopati. The Salt Trading Corporation has set prices of Rs 26 a kilogram for iodized salt, Rs 20 for New Shakti and Rs 9 for Bhanu, but in the municipality's settlements a packet of iodized salt costs between Rs 60 and Rs 200. Vehicles reach only Pangsing; above it, goods go by mule. Local resident Nima Dorje said freight alone from Pangsing to Samdo is Rs 100 for a packet.

Prices follow the freight rate and the season: Rs 150 in Lho, Rs 100 in Bihi in winter, Rs 100 to Rs 170 in Prok and Rs 180 to Rs 200 in Chhule and Nile. Sagar Sherchan of the corporation said 350 quintals of iodized salt went to Sirdibas this fiscal year with the government paying the transport, but local resident Pasang Phunjo Lama said the subsidized salt is mostly consumed in the Sirdibas area. Apart from ward 3 (Sirdibas), the municipality's other six wards remain far from the road network.