It is planning to add some more teams to conduct regular market inspection, taking into consideration the upcoming festive season. The department currently has two teams for the purpose.
“We are planning to deploy more market inspection teams from next week as per the direction of the finance minister and keeping in view the upcoming festive season,” Hari Narayan Belbase, director at DoCSM, told Republica. “We are holding a joint meeting with concerned government agencies on Thursday. The meeting will finalize the number of teams that we will be adding.” [break]
Belbase said the department has invited 12 government agencies to participate in the meeting. The department, among others, has sent invitation to the District Administration Office, Kathmandu, all municipalities in the Kathmandu Valley, Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC), Nepal Food Corporation (NFC), Department of Agriculture (DoA), and District Police Office, Kathmandu.
According to Belbase, the meeting will also define core areas for market inspection. “We have received complaints from consumers of commodities and services like petroleum products, bottled water, vegetables, meat items, bakeries, bus stations, and highway eateries, among others,” Belbase said, adding that the teams will include officials, who specialize on these products and services.
Meanwhile, officials of the DoCSM have vowed to fix maximum retail price (MRP) of daily consumable goods and establish fair price shops in different parts of the Valley soon.
Belbase said his office has already sent the draft working plan to the Office of the Prime Minister. “Once our working plan is approved, we will determine MRP of different food commodities and open fair price shops in different parts of the Valley,” said Belbase.
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