Gorkha, November 6, 2026 — Residents of remote villages in northern Gorkha are paying as much as Rs 200 for a packet of edible salt that costs Rs 30 to Rs 35 per kilogram in ordinary markets, largely because of high transportation costs and the lack of road access.
People in Chumnubri Rural Municipality have to spend considerably more on salt and other daily necessities because goods must be carried over difficult mountain routes, often using mules.
Salt Trading Corporation, Nepal's main supplier of edible salt, has fixed the price of Iodized Ayo salt at Rs 26 per kilogram, New Shakti salt at Rs 20 and Bhanu salt at Rs 9. However, a packet of Ayo salt sells for between Rs 60 and Rs 200 in settlements across Chumnubri. Prices generally rise with the remoteness of the village.
In Samagaun and Samdo, settlements near the Tibetan border in the Manaslu region, a packet of Ayo salt costs Rs 200. Local resident Nima Dorje said transporting a packet from Pangsing to Samdo alone costs Rs 100.
“Transporting one packet of salt from Pangsing to Samdo costs Rs 100. The transportation costs from Arughat and Arkhet to Pangsing are additional. When shopkeepers add a profit margin of Rs 5 to Rs 10, the price of one packet reaches Rs 200,” he said.
In Lho village of Ward 2, below Samagaun, a packet of Ayo salt costs Rs 150 because food transportation charges reach Rs 80 per kilogram.
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In Bihi of Ward 5, salt sells for Rs 100 per packet, according to local resident Kalden Tsering. He said mule transportation from Pangsing to Bihi costs Rs 25 per kilogram during winter, when the packet price remains around Rs 100. During the monsoon, transportation charges can rise to Rs 70 per kilogram, pushing up commodity prices.
Residents of Prok in Ward 4 also said salt prices range from Rs 100 to Rs 170 per kilogram, depending on transportation expenses.
In Chule and Nile, the last settlements in the Chum Valley, residents pay between Rs 180 and Rs 200 for a packet of Ayo salt. These villages are around one and a half to two days' walk from Pangsing, and mule transportation costs Rs 60 per kilogram. Transport charges are Rs 55 per kilogram to Lama village and Rs 50 to Chekam village in Chhekampar, according to Pasang Phunjo Lama of Lama village. A packet of Ayo salt costs Rs 150 in the settlements of Chhekampar.
In Chumling of Ward 6, a packet costs Rs 100, local resident Gopal Lama said. Transporting food supplies from Pangsing to Chumling costs Rs 30 per kilogram.
The government operates a transportation subsidy programme to supply salt at subsidized rates to residents of remote Himalayan areas. Salt Trading Corporation is responsible for managing the programme.
According to Sagar Serchan, the corporation's Gandaki Province chief, 350 quintals of Ayo salt were dispatched to Sirdibas in northern Gorkha during the current fiscal year.
“The corporation sends Ayo salt according to the demand from northern Gorkha. We dispatch it from here at Rs 28 per kilogram,” he said, adding that the government covers the transportation costs of the contractor carrying salt from Pokhara to Sirdibas.
However, subsidized salt has not reached all remote settlements in northern Gorkha. Pasang Phunjo Lama of Chhekampar in Ward 7 said the subsidized supply is largely consumed in the Sirdibas area.
“The government provides transportation subsidies to deliver salt as far as Jagat. From there, it takes four days to reach Samagaun and Samdo and three days to reach Chhekampar. That is why we still have to pay high mule transportation charges,” he said.
The Nepal Army has opened a road track from the rural municipality's administrative centre at Philim to a point slightly beyond it at Pewas. However, motor vehicles have reached only as far as Pangsing.
The Army has been assigned to open the road track from Hawadanda to Larke Pass on the Chinese border under the Benighat-Arughat-Larke road project. Construction has made limited progress because of budget shortages and difficulties in securing funding. As a result, six of the rural municipality's seven wards, apart from Ward 3, Sirdibas, remain without road access.
Even in Philim, the administrative centre, and nearby areas where roads are available, a packet of Ayo salt that costs Rs 30 elsewhere sells for Rs 60, local resident Kumari Gurung said. She attributed the higher price to transportation costs incurred between Arkhet and Philim.
Beyond Pangsing in Ward 3, where motor vehicles can reach, mules remain the main means of transporting goods to settlements in the Manaslu region. Bir Bahadur Lama, a trader in Samagaun, said carrying food supplies to the region's last settlements, Samagaun and Samdo, costs Rs 100 per kilogram.
He said supplies take three days to reach the villages on foot, resulting in transportation charges of Rs 100 per kilogram.