The government has instructed grocery stores inside the Kathmandu Valley to take orders online or by phone and deliver the items to the households deeming that people thronging to the stores when opened can spread COVID-19 infection.
A meeting chaired by Home Secretary Maheshwore Neupane on Thursday has taken the decision to ease supply of essential items during the lockdown.
The stores have been instructed to make arrangements of toll-free phone lines to take orders.
The meeting has decided that the stores can themselves also make combo-packs of essential items and deliver them apart from delivering the ordered items.
The ward offices concerned will coordinate with the stores to ease delivery. Nepal Police will provide security for the arrangements while the district administration offices will issue passes for the stores and delivery vans.
The Home Ministry has also urged the consumers to call the toll-free number 1149 to complain about price gouging, hording and artificial scarcity of essential items.