KATHMANDU, Sept 22: Though the government has already released subsidy that it has promised, only half of the consumer cooperative shops have opened so far, officials said.
Bishnu Prasad Ghimire, an officer at the Department of Cooperatives, said only about 1,500 of 3,219 such cooperatives, which have received government subsidy of Rs 100,000 each, have been functioning.
“Despite the timely release of budget, many cooperatives are yet to open due to the lack of reliable road in some places, delay in getting dealership for some commodities and monsoon,” said Ghimire, who just returned to the capital after monitoring local consumers cooperatives in half a dozen districts run under the government subsidy.
Of the allocated Rs 400 million, the government has already dispatched Rs 321.9 million to local community institution in different districts to open consumer cooperatives. Through the budget for fiscal year 2008/09, the government had introduced the program of opening at least only consumer outlet in each VDC and each for the population of 30,000.
The government has also announced to continue the subsidy for such cooperatives in this fiscal year on the basis of their performance.
“We have completed monitoring cooperatives outlets in more than 45 districts. We won´t release budget this year without assessing their performance,” Ghimire said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoAC) has begun monitoring the performance of consumer cooperatives and study the supply of essential commodities in the eve of Dashain, Tihar and Chhath festivals. Dr Hari Dahal, spokesperson at the ministry, said two teams, comprising ministry officials and officials of Department of Cooperatives, would be regularly mobilized for the next couples of days.
According to Ghimire, who also monitored consumer cooperatives opened in the capital, said, only 76 cooperatives - 27 in Kathmandu, 32 in Lalitpur and 17 in Bhaktapur - were running at present. He also said most of the cooperatives had complained that the government had not supplied essential commodities, including rice, sugar, pulse and edible oil, to them.
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