The Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection (DCSCP) has intensified market monitoring targeting the festival season to control sale and distribution of inedible foodstuffs and black marketing.
Although the Department has been monitoring the market regularly, it has said that the monitoring is more focused on food, clothing and vehicles during the festivals.
Homanath Bhattarai, director of the Department, informed that since Teej, the Department has been monitoring the market every day with four teams. He informed that the monitoring has been intensified to control the sale of adulterated and date-expired goods that may occur during the festivals.
Consumers are cheated by businessmen as there is high demand for daily essential goods. During the festivals, businessmen engage in black marketing, price hike, low quality food labeling, etc. According to Bhattarai, the monitoring is more focused on food, clothing and vehicle ticket counters because they are overcrowded and consumers can be cheated.
He said that the Department would mobilise additional teams by seeking support from the government if required to monitor the market effectively.
Director Bhattarai informed that they are currently conducting regular monitoring and emergency monitoring of the complaints received by the Department and Hello Sarkar.
According to him, in normal conditions two teams would monitor daily, but now four teams go to different places to monitor at least five business establishments each day.
Besides, the Department has been monitoring the market outside the Kathmandu Valley in an aggressive manner in collaboration with various authorities, including District Administration Offices, provincial and local governments, Bhattarai said.
The authority has been given to the chief of the local administration office through the Ministry of Home Affairs to conduct market monitoring with rights, he said, adding that the role of local administration is more vital to control black marketing at the local level.
For strengthening market monitoring across the country, the Department has appointed market inspection officers for all District Administration Offices and also trained them to enhance their capacities in monitoring and follow the rules while inspecting the market.
He said that the Department would cooperate with local administration to strengthen the monitoring activities across the country.
He said that mutual efforts were being made among the federal, provincial and local governments to make the market clean by discouraging traders to engage in unhealthy and irregular business.
Stating that the consumers should be more aware to make the market clean by controlling unethical work, he asked the consumers to inform the concerned authority if they are cheated by the traders.
Source : TRN,
