Market monitoring intensified, 175 firms face action

KATHMANDU: The Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection has intensified market monitoring in the wake of the main festivals — Dashain, Tihar and Chhat. The department monitored 272 firms last week. A team of inspectors mobilised by the department fined Rs 200,000 to a department store in Madhyapur Thimi, Bhaktapur, on Wednesday. The Department fined the department store after the store changed the standards, price and weight of the goods by violating the rules. Similarly, the team on Thursday fined Rs 200,000 to a grocery located in Imadol, Lalitpur reasoning that the shop was found fleecing consumers. A total of 844 firms have been monitored since July 17 among which 175 firms were fined. A total of Rs 3.531 million has been collected from fines. Substandard inedible products worth Rs 2.399 million were destroyed during the inspection, according to the department. The monitoring team directed the firms facing action to keep registration documents updated, display price lists and registration certificates which the consumers can see easily and be present at the department along with sales bills. Ten monitoring teams of the department monitored groceries, vegetable and fruit shops, pharmacies, fresh houses, liquor stores, dairy, cosmetic stores and sweet shops. Director of the department, Hari Pangeni, said that they expedited market monitoring with the objective that consumers would not be cheated when buying goods during the festivals. Meanwhile, organisations working for the rights of consumers shared that the government had not been able to carry out market monitoring effectively. Chairperson of Consumer Rights Research Forum, Madhav Timilsina, shared that the government mechanism had not been able to carry out effective works in order to protect and promote consumer rights. He mentioned that there was a trend of cheating consumers under different pretexts in the market as the government had no clear data on the supply and consumption of daily essentials. By RSS

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