KATHMANDU: The Ministry of Supplies is set to open fair price shops for the upcoming Dashain, Tihar and Chhath festivals across the nation.

The shops will be opened by the corporations operated under the Ministry of Supplies from September 1 to October 26, it said in a statement today.

Minister for Supplies Shiva Kumar Mandal said that the government decided to open fair shops to provide consumable goods in a fair price for the upcoming festivals.

"We decided to open the shops prior one month to festivals to ease the supply of goods from Nepal Trading Ltd, Salt Trading Corporation, National Trading with special discount," Minister added.

"The distribution channel will be made efficient and effective monitoring will be carried out to discourage traders from hoarding goods to create artificial shortage in the market," Mandal warned.

The government has also determined a quota in the purchase of goods, i.e 30 kg of rice, 6 kg of salt per family. The shop will also offer Rs 2 per kg discount on salt, Rs 2 on sugar, Rs 10 on Basmati rice, Rs 5 on other brand rice, Rs 10 per kg on purchase of live stocks.

The shops would be operated in 36 different places including 9 stalls of Salt Trading, 22 stalls of corporations and 3 movable stalls in Kathmandu where as 22 other shops would be operated outside Kathmandu Valley.

The meeting held in presence of Minister for Supplies Shiva Kumar Mandal, Secretary at the Ministry, Department of Supplies Management and Consumer Protection, Food Corporation, National Trading, Salt Trading Ltd, Nepal Oil Corporation in coordination made the decision today.