STC to set up salt depots in remote Bajura VDCs

Bajura, February 8

Salt Trading Corporation is all set to establish a salt depot in the remote Kawadi Bazaar of Rugin VDC in Bajura.

Keshab Prasad Pandey, chief of STC regional office, Dhangadi said locals at Rugin, Bichhayan and Badhu VDCs of the district were compelled buy salt at Rs 50 per kg. He said the office was also planning to add another permanent depot at Maure of the district.

Locals in the VDCs and neighbouring districts, including Humal and Mugu, will be able to buy salt at nine rupees per kg after the establishment of the depot in Kawadi. Pandey said the STC had decided to establish a permanent depot in Kawadi after the media covered news stories about salt crunch in the remote area.

Similarly, locals of six different VDCs in Bajura will have access to iodised salt from the Maure depot. “The people of remote areas are still deprived of iodised salt,” Pandey said.

The government’s move to establish salt depots comes after the locals at Badhu, Rugin and Bichhayan VDCs submitted a memo with the demand for establishing the depot to the Minister of Supplies Dipak Bohara a month ago.

Mangal Bahadur Malla, a local, said the government had decided to establish the depot after the a struggle committee reached Kathmandu and demanded establishment of a salt depot in the area.

Meanwhile, Mohan Nath at District Health Office, Bajura said maximum people were suffering from thyroid due to lack of iodised salt in the remote VDCs of the district. “Locals still use rock salt due to the lack of iodised salt,” he said. As much as 8,300 quintal salt has been supplied to the district this fiscal.

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