November 8: Many families have a tradition of offering tea to the guests while people meet friends for conversation over a cup of tea. Just as tea adds sweetness to the relationship, sugar adds sweetness to tea.

However, the consumers are facing bitter pain at present to buy sugar that adds sweetness to the daily life. Consumers complain that they have to spend Rs 120 on transportation fare and have to wait in queue for hours just to buy two kilograms of sugar.

Sugar is not easily available in the market at the moment. Even if it is available at some stores, people have to either stand in long queue for hours or pay a very high price.

The Salt Trading Corporation sells sugar to the general public at a subsidized rate but provides only two kilograms per person. Shyam Sunder Pokharel of Jorpati was found in a queue to buy sugar at Kalimati-based Salt Trading Corporation on Tuesday.

"My bus fare costs Rs 120 to travel from Jorpati to here. If we add the cost of lunch, it will be more than Rs 200," he told New Business Age, adding, "It is so difficult to buy sugar that costs Rs 97 per kilogram. I had to come here because I couldn't get sugar in the shops near my home for a week.”

Another consumer, Ajay Maharjan, said that he had to stand in line for two hours to buy two kilograms of sugar.

"I finally managed to get two kilos of sugar. It will last for a month,” he said, adding, “I can't live without tea, I can't even eat without sugar."

Due to the shortage of sugar in the market, consumers from far and wide are also forced to come to the Salt Trading Corporation and stand in line for hours. In order to make it easier for the consumers, Salt Trading Corporation has started giving up to 10 bags of sugar to the retailers as a government initiative. However, this has not changed anything for the consumers.

Kumar Rajbhandari, the spokesperson of Salt Trading Corporation, said that the state-owned company has supplied sugar to the retailers.

However, the traders are creating an artificial shortage of sugar in the market and selling it at high prices.

Sugar is not available in most of the shops. Even if it is available, they charge up to Rs 150 per kg.

The Department of Commerce is also working hard to control artificial scarcity and black marketing. The government also demanded 50,000 tons of sugar from India to facilitate the supply of sugar. The government plans to import sugar through the government-to-government process.

Government sources said that India sent an email to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies on November 2 and informed that it would provide 25,000 tons of sugar. Gajendra Thakur, spokesperson for the ministry, said that the Salt Trading Corporation and the Food Management and Trading Company will be entrusted with supplying 10,000 tons of sugar each. He said that efforts are being made to remove the shortage by importing sugar as soon as possible.

Consumer rights activists say that the fault lies with the government for the current crisis of sugar.

President of the National Consumer Forum, Premlal Maharjan, holds the Ministry of Finance responsible for the current situation.

He said that although the Ministry of Supply had written a letter to the Finance Ministry seeking permission to import sugar in July, the Finance Ministry deliberately did not give the permission on time. He said that the consumers are at the receiving end due to the lack of coordination between the government agencies. Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry said that they are taking diplomatic initiatives for easy availability of sugar in the market.