Govt directive to curb artificial price hike of commodities
KATHMANDU, JUL 25 -
The government has directed concerned ministries and authorities under them to step up efforts in regular monitoring of the prices and supplies of essential commodities.
Immediately after a high-level meeting, chaired by Chief Secretary Madhav Prasad Ghimire, the Ministries of Home Supplies and Agriculture have issued directives to concerned departments to check on alleged black-marketing of essential commodities.
During the meeting, senior officials from the ministries, chief district officers of Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur and representatives from consumer welfare groups were told to step up efforts to check the markets regularly.
Deepak Subedi, spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies, said that the ministry had expedited the monitoring drive, including collection of price lists of the daily essential commodities.
Similarly, the Ministry of Agriculture Development has started monitoring prices of vegetables and fruits, and other commodities in Kalimati Fruits and Vegetable Wholesale Market Development Board.
Vegetable prices rocketed by over 60 percent, while prices of food soared by more than 50 percent in the past 11 months. Spokesperson of the Ministry of Agriculture, Hari Dahal, said that apart from price monitoring of vegetables and fruits items, the ministry has also started collecting details from stalls amid complaints over exorbitant rents.
Sources said that high rental fee of stalls was one of the major factors leading to unnatural inflation of fruits and foodstuff. Wholesalers in Kalimati wholesale market blame a cartel involing certain powerful groups for the high rental fee, which goes as high as Rs 70,000 against Rs 4,500 fixed by the government. Manoj Dhital, senior market operating officer at the Kalimati market, said that the price of each stall of 86 square feet area ranges from Rs 4,000 to Rs 4,500.
“However, the powerful groups and goons determine the rent here. And we are compelled to pay the amount,” said a vegetable wholesaler.
Even Chief Secretary Ghimire expressed his concern over the issue during Sunday’s meeting, directing the concerned authorities to furnish details on those operating the stalls within 15 days. There are 452 stalls, of which 296 are the wholesale shops, 69 retail shops, 43 fish shops and 25 cooperatives.
Responding to consumers’ complaints that market surveillance are done only during major festivals like Dashain and Tihar and that traders determine prices unilaterally, the government have decided to regularise the monitoring process by adding more muscle to the Department of Commerce (DoC).
The high-level meeting has also directed government authorities, including the DoC, Valley CDOs and the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control, to increase surveillance across the Valley to curb the prevailing malpractices immediately.
Source: The Kathmandu Post
