The Department of Supplies Management (DoSM) said it will continue its aggressive monitoring campaign for the next few months in Kathmandu, after a large number of business firms were found to be involved in market anomalies. The department said it would also conduct similar inspections in outlets located outside the valley after the second phase of local election schedule. 

According to the department, it has been mobilising four monitoring squads daily to cross check outlets. The DoSM Director General Kumar Dahal hinted that the department would rigorously inspect the market till Dashain that falls on September this year. “Unlike the past trend in which the department used to conduct market monitoring mainly before the festivals, we have planned to carry out the inspection a few months in advance,” he said.

From June 6-12, the department carried out aggressive market monitoring in which it checked 453 firms and public transport vehicles. Of them, it has begun legal proceedings against 12 firms in Kathmandu on the charge of committing business malpractice. Similarly, the market regulator took action against 121 public transport vehicles on the charge of overcharging passengers. They were fined Rs5,000 each on the spot. 

Dahal said the department has been developing the ‘trend analysis graph’ of the firms that were found guilty. “Based on the information, we will rigorously follow these business firms and if they are found not following the department’s direction, we will permanently scrap their licence,” he said. 

The department has categorised six sectors for inspection. Meat and grocery shops, slaughter houses are in the first sector. Second sector consists of transportation. The third sector comprises of gasoline and construction materials. Dairy products and bottled water fall under the fourth sector. Eateries, sweets and prepared foods are in the fifth sector. Pharmacies and medical clinics make up the sixth sector.

During the cross-check, most of the problems were found in meat related products, gasoline stations, pharmacies and bottled water. Dahal said they were concentrating their task mainly on the polyclinics and pharmacies in the recent days. 

The department report shows that a large number of polyclinics have been doing their business without a valid operating licence. Similarly, absence of pharmacists, selling of banned drugs including narcotics, poor management of the expired medicines and charging high prices for medicinal products were rampant in the pharmacies. 

According to the department, it has planned special market monitoring outside the valley following the second phase election. “As the election code of conduct does not allow similar action in the provinces where election is going to be held, we have planned to start our action there after election.” 

As per Dahal, there are a total of 10 government authorities to look after the market anomalies. However, most of them are being sluggish resulting in the growing number of misconducts which has largely affected consumers,” Dahal said.