Government slammed for being soft against dishonest traders

CONSUMER rights activists on Monday criticized the government for failing to move against sellers of substandard products. The authorities have not been able to take action against them even after being caught by market monitoring teams, they said. The rights groups have also asked the government to crack down on cartels as they had been creating an artificial price rise in the market. The Department of Commerce and Supply (DoCS), Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC) and Nepal Bureau of Standard and Metrology (NBSM) have increased the frequency of market inspection of late. However, hardly any of the traders caught selling inferior products have faced legal action. In fact, the merchants involved in malpractices have organised protests under the banner of their associations to pressure the government against pursuing further action. The government has agreed not to take action against the wrongdœrs. “The government should introduce a provision to ensure action against wrongdœrs without delay,” said Jagannath Mishra, president of the Consumers’ Welfare Protection Forum (CWPF). “The government seems to have carried out monitoring just for cheap publicity,” said Mishra. The extent of government inaction against unscrupulous traders is shown by the records of the DoCS. It reported that it checked over 2,100 samples of goods from across the country in 2012-13. And despite the large number of substandard products found, cases were filed against only seven sellers. Gold traders who were found selling substandard gold during the inspection by DoCS were let off. When it was making preparations to pursue legal action, the bullion traders closed their shops for several days in protest. Similarly, of the 15 dairies that were found selling milk contaminated with harmful coli form bacteria faced no legal action as mentioned in the law. The DFTQC failed to take stern action against any of them although it sealed a few dairies for a few days. They were allowed to resume operations without having taken convincing measures to improve the quality of their products. Meanwhile, government agencies said that their hands were tied due to lack of laws and shortage of manpower. The DFTQC’s spokesperson Pramod Koirala said lack of transparency in reporting, shortage of skilled manpower and lack of coordination among government bodies were the main challenges of the sector. NBSM Director General Ram Aadhar Sah said his office was working to develop a mechanism to bring government staffers blamed for taking undue advantage during market inspection under the law. “We will also initiate market inspection outside the Kathmandu valley,” he added. Pabitra Bajracharya, president of the Nepal Retailers’ Association, said the government should focus on monitoring the source like production plants and customs points to minimize sales of substandard goods. “Big traders are always excused while small ones have to suffer legal action for the same offence,” he said. Gopal Dahal, central committee member of the CWPF, blamed the government for not moving forward to control market prices. “Besides effectively implementing the provisions in the law, the government is reluctant to control prices,” he said. “The government’s policy that a free market automatically adjusts prices has led to suffering for consumers.” Meanwhile, Surendra Bir Malakar, former president of the Nepal Chamber of Commerce, said that the government should also focus on smuggling of imported goods through the open border with India. He urged the government to induct experts into its inspection team to make market monitoring more effective. The government seems to have carried out monitoring just for cheap publicity