Chitwan, March 14

Market monitoring carried out by government bodies has been ineffective in Chitwan and consumers are facing many problems, including various health hazards.

Government agencies responsible for monitoring, say that it has been ineffective due to the 51-year-old Food Act. The act has it that a person involved in the production, sale, import and export of substandard food items will be fined from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000.

Market protection officer Om Narayan Sharma of Market Monitoring Unit at Chitwan DAO

admitted that market monitoring based on the 51 year-old act was fully responsible for ineffective monitoring.

Consumers Rights Protection Forum Chitwan Chair Sailendra Kumar Shrestha said that the old act, lack of resources, shortage of skilled manpower and dearth of mechanism were behind the abysmal market inspection.

Chitwan CDO Narayan Prasad Bhatta said that failure to amend the act and regulations as per the changing time had made market monitoring ineffective. “Lack of manpower, resources, non-cooperation from business organisations and lack of awareness among consumers are behind the lacklustre inspection of the market,” CDO Bhatta added.

Industry Association Chitwan’s former chairman Rajan Gautam admitted that businessmen and entrepreneurs had become profit-oriented and consumers were bearing the brunt. He said that both the government and entrepreneurs should work keeping consumers at the centre.

Market protection officer Sharma admitted that old and lengthy legal procedures had made market monitoring ineffective.

Food Inspector Prabin Tiwari said Chitwan did not have a lab to examine food and results of the food sent to Hetauda for tests took two years to come. According to Tiwari, as many as 891 shops, firms and industries were inspected in the last 11 months. Samples of 54 goods were sent to the Office of Regional Food Technology and Quality Control Hetauda for tests. Results of only 22 items have arrived. Eight food items were found to be sub-standard. The report of 32 goods is yet to come. “Preparation is on to file a case against 30 firms found guilty during inspection,” Tiwari said.