Govt to begin monitoring of big firms from mid-May

KATHMANDU, April 27: The government is starting monitoring of big factories and importers of different commodities from mid-May.

The Department of Commerce and Supply Management (DoCSM), which was monitoring retailers and wholesalers so far, has decided to monitor large producers and importers of different commodities.

Narayan Prasad Bidari, director general of DoCSM, said they would soon prepare an action plan and begin monitoring by mid-May.

Saying that monitoring of big factories would be a challenging task, Bidari said they would include top officials from the department, police personnel, food inspectors, market experts, and media persons, among others in the monitoring team to make the inspection more transparent.

Bidari also said the department would also give continuity to monitoring of retailers and wholesalers.

At present, the department has mobilized two to conduct monitoring of wholesalers and retailers of different commodities.

Hari Narayan Belbase, director at DoCSM, said the proposed monitoring of big factories should be carried out as a campaign. “Government support is a must to give continuity to the campaign,” he added. He further added that the new campaign would mainly focus on firms dealing on breads, drugs, shoes, cements, rods, noodles, milk, juices, biscuits, chocolates and petroleum products.

“We would look into waste management mechanism put in place by biscuit and bread producers and test the quality of their products,” Belbase said, adding, “We have also received complaints that some clothing brands are fleecing customers by charging high prices.”

Saying that they had received complaints of drug producers and importers tampering with product labels and fixing manufacturing and expiry dates on their own, Belbase said the team would look into the issue and take action against firms involved in foul play.

Source: Republica