DHANKUTA, AUGUST 29
Date expired materials are being sold in the markets of the rural areas of Dhankuta for want of regular market monitoring.
Consumers said that they were compelled to buy date-expired and inedible food materials at exorbitant price and the local administration did not pay attention to carrying out monitoring in rural areas.
They said that the market monitoring team was urban-centric. The local levels carried out market monitoring in the district headquarters and places like Bhedetar, Hile, Sidhuwa, Leguwa and Jitpur. But the market monitoring team did not reach Kajimane, Dandabazaar, Rajarani, Budhabare, Mudhebas and Damar, among other markets in the rural areas of the district.
Consumers Rights Conservation Forum, Dhankuta, Chairman Ghanendra Neupane said consumers bought date-expired materials such as noodles, biscuits, pulses, rice, cooking oil and cold drinks, among others. He said that locals bought goods without checking the expiry date and most of them even did not know about the expiry date of goods sold in the market. Neupane added that the locals were compelled to face health related issues after they used the date-expired materials. He claimed that the traders had sent the date-expired materials to rural areas.
Head teacher Ram Babu Dhakal of Ram Secondary School, Leguwa, said the problems occurred due to lack of monitoring in remote areas.
A version of this article appears in the print on August 30 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
