KATHMANDU, Sept 5: A team of officials from various nine governmental departments dealing with consumers’ rights and protection, including the District Administration Office in Kathmandu, will conduct market monitoring starting from September 18.
Madhu Kumar Marasini, Secretary of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, said that it has been decided to monitor the market jointly with the departments related to consumer rights under the leadership of the Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection.
Now, representatives of commerce, internal revenue, food technology and quality control, health services, drug system, quality and weight, agriculture, animal services, tourism department and DAO will participate in the market monitoring. Earlier, the Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection was monitoring the market.
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The department alone was criticized for not being effective in monitoring. Secretary Marasini said that the coordination meeting was held in the presence of representatives of the DAO and nine different departments. The meeting has decided to send at least 10 teams for market monitoring from September 18.
According to Secretary Marasini, the authority of market monitoring has been delegated to all 77 district administration offices in the meeting of the committee led by the Secretary of Commerce. "They have been given a 'mandate' to monitor the market. Arrangements have been made for market monitoring in all 753 local units," he said.
Secretary Marasini said that despite the limited resources, coordination and monitoring work has been carried forward effectively.
"The target market will be monitored especially during the festive season, previously the commerce department was monitoring the market alone," he said, "Now a team will be formed and sent for monitoring by representatives of all the departments that are concerned with consumer rights and protection."