Kathmandu, March 16

The government of China has handed over 10,000 sets of induction cookers as an emergency relief aid to Nepal today.

Earlier too, China had sent 1,300 sets of induction cookers as relief aid for cooking to fuel-strapped Nepal.

The induction cookers provided as relief aid worth $892,700 will be deducted from Official Development Assistance (ODA) of the government of China to Nepal. An agreement in this regard was signed here today, between Ambassador of China to Nepal Wu Chuntai and Secretary at the Ministry of Supplies Shreedhar Sapkota.

The government has been planning to sell the induction cookers received from the government of China at a fair price in various parts of the country, including Kathmandu, Pokhara and Chitwan.

The National Trading Ltd (NTL), under the Ministry of Supplies, has been authorised to sell the induction cookers. NTL will start selling induction cookers after the Ministry of Finance fixes the price. Earlier, NTL had failed to sell 1,300 sets of induction cookers as it was priced relatively higher than similar products available in the market. Back then, the finance ministry had fixed the price of each induction cooker at Rs 10,931.

According to the Ministry of Supplies, this time it has proposed selling the induction cookers received as

relief aid at around Rs 4,000 each. The Ministry of Supplies will direct the NTL to sell the product only after receiving consent from the Ministry of Finance.