Citing shortage, traders are raising prices in an arbitrary manner. They are charging higher price than the maximum retail price (MRP), taking advantage of helplessness of quake victims.
A snap survey conducted by Republica showed traders are overcharging consumers on vegetables, biscuits, noodles, bottled water and fruits. Transport entrepreneurs are also charging high fare.A Haadigaun-based retailer charged Mohan Basnet of Chabahil Rs 30 for a liter of bottled water. The MRP of bottled water is only Rs 20 per liter.
"Retailers are taking advantage from us as the government has failed to supply adequate drinking water," Basnet said. "When I asked the retailer why he was overcharging me, he escaped by saying that his supplier charged him higher price."
Basnet is just an example. Thousands of customers like him are being fleeced by unscrupulous traders. Citing short supply, vegetables vendors are have raised price by almost 100 percent. Quake victims taking shelter in Chabahil and Jayabageshwari area are paying as much as Rs 100 for a kg of cauliflower and Rs 70 for a kg of tomato. Traders have also raised price of fruits.
"As our kitchen is empty, we have no option but to pay whatever price the traders quote,"
Reeta Timalsina of Jayabageshwari said.
The victims of such black marketing activities have been basically those people who have been staying at an open space in mass to prevent themselves from possible danger of earthquake.
Some retailers in Chabahil, Mitrapark and Gaushala have been charging Rs 20 for a packet of noodle that costs Rs 15 and Rs 15 for a biscuit that costs Rs 10. Such traders are encouraged as the government has failed to launch effective monitoring activities.
In course of monitoring on Tuesday, market inspectors found retailers near Bir Hospital charging Rs 30 for a bottle of mineral water. The MRP of mineral water is only Rs 20.
TRANSPORTATION FARE ALSO HIGH
Not only food items, customers are being cheated on transportation fare as well. Bed Prasad Gautam of Chabahil was taken aback when a cabbie quoted a fare of Rs 1,000 for a trip from Chabahil to Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) which is less than 4 km. "As I was in a hurry, I had to pay Rs 1,000 for a trip which would cost less than Rs 200 on normal days," he added.
Unfortunately, the government is not serious toward plight of consumers. When Republica reached three market inspectors of Department of Commerce and Supply Management (DoCSM), the government authority responsible for controlling market anomalies, they said they had not been able to join office due to earthquake.
Not only government officials, even consumer rights activists are not doing the needful for controlling market anomalies. "We will begin monitoring activities soon," Jyoti Baniya, president of Forum for Protection of Consumer Rights (FPCR), said.
Shambhu Koirala, director general of DoCSM, told Republica that five market monitoring teams have been formed to inspect market activities. "Our focus, so far, was on requesting traders to open their shops. We will make market inspection strict from Wednesday itself as we have been receiving number of complaints about traders overcharging consumers," Koirala said. "If found guilty, we will punish them accordingly."
Meanwhile, Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS) has said that it would deploy market inspectors in civil dress. "We have not found anomalies so far maybe because traders know the presence of market inspectors. Now we will send market inspectors in civil dress," Nagindra Prasad Upadhyay, secretary of MoCS, said, adding, "We will take action as per the existing laws if traders are found cheating consumers."
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