A group of vendors on Tuesday hurled vegetables and water bottles at a market monitoring team led by Supplies Minister Ganesh Man Pun at the Balkhu Agriculture and Vegetables Market.

The vegetable vendors’ reaction followed after the monitoring team seized weighing machines of some of the traders suspecting that they had tampered with the instruments to cheat customers.

The irate vendors complained that the government team “did not inform” them before conducting the “raid”.

The government team had carried out the surprise market inspection amid growing complaints from different quarters. After an hour of discussion, traders offered their apology and allowed the monitoring team to certify their

instruments.

Government officials said many vendors were unaware that the weighing and measuring instruments should be certified from the Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology (NBSM).

“A misunderstanding led to the incident,” said Roshan Kunwar, director at the Balkhu Agriculture and Vegetables Market. “We immediately sought an

apology and said we were ready to comply with the guidelines.”

During the inspection, out of the 250 traders, 46 were caught using instruments that were not certified by the NBSM.

Stinky and dirty environment, mismanaged shops and unhygienic practices have turned the market into a dumping site, the inspection team said.  

According to the inspection team, both Kalimati and Balkhu vegetable markets are in a sorry state.

During the inspection, Minister Pun expressed serious concern over unhygienic environment of the market and directed the concerned authorities to carry out pesticide checks.

He also directed the authorities to inspect the markets regularly and force traders to follow the market code of conduct.

Although there are numerous vegetable markets in the country, only Kalimati Fruits and Vegetable Market has an equipment to run pesticide check.