Salt costs Rs 200 per kg in Chumanubri as poor roads drive up transport costs

Salt prices have reached as high as Rs 200 per kg in remote villages of northern Gorkha. Residents of the Chumanubri area have to buy salt at this steep price even though it sells for Rs 30 to Rs 35 per kg in the market.

The salt is expensive because of the high transport costs involved in the absence of road access. Carrying goods to places not connected by road requires paying heavy transport fares.

According to reports, bringing a single sack of salt from Pangsing to Samdo costs Rs 100 in transport fare alone. The transport cost from Arughat and Arkhet to Pangsing is charged separately on top of that. Shopkeepers then add a profit margin of Rs 5 to Rs 10.

With transport costs and profit margins piling up at each stage, salt that is cheap in the market ends up costing as much as Rs 200 a packet by the time it reaches remote villages in northern Gorkha. Local residents are suffering as they are forced to spend so much even on a basic daily consumption item.