July 22, Kathmandu- Among the market monitoring by the Department of Commerce, Supplies, and Consumer Protection in the fiscal year 2077/78, 75 percent of the business firms have been fined or taken action. Among them 5,779 business firms monitored by the department from July 2020 to July 2021, four thousand 302 firms have been fined.

The office under the department has fined a minimum of Rs 5,000 to Rs 200,000 to 1,347 of those monitored during the period and directed to destroy 2,438 expired items and submit documents. Of the monitored business firms, 51 have been sealed and 466 business firms have been called for clarification and statement, the department said. Similarly, according to the department, the case process has been started against 19 business firms during the period.

The department has collected revenue of around Rs 3.5 crore by imposing fines on 1,347 business firms engaged in improper business activities. According to the department, goods worth Rs. 45 million have been destroyed in the fiscal year 2020/21. The department has destroyed the expired goods by monitoring during that period.

The department has fined 3,011 out of 3,974 monitors in the Kathmandu Valley alone. Of these, 1,035 have been fined and 1,597 have been directed to take corrective action and other actions, according to the department. Among these 1,805 business firms monitored outside the Kathmandu Valley, 1,171 have been fined.

The department has collected revenue from fines of more than Rs 37.38 million in the Kathmandu Valley alone and has destroyed expired goods worth Rs 239.82 million. The highest number of monitors in the Kathmandu Valley was 439, 368, and 351 in October, November, and December, respectively, while the lowest number of monitors were found in May and June, respectively, only 120 and 100 respectively.

During the year, more than 40 million worth of expired and substandard goods were destroyed and action was taken against the producers and business firms, said Shivaraj Sedhai, director of the department.

According to him, during the monitoring, it has been found that some business firms do not have signboards, business registration certificates, weighing certificates, weighing equipment, and food licenses. The department has also been instructing the business firms to improve sanitation, get VAT or PAN certificates and submit explanations.

The department has been monitoring daily necessities including medicines, meat, oil, food grains, petroleum products, vegetables, and fruits. During the monitoring of those items, it was found that they were selling at high prices, selling low-quality or expired goods, not registering their business, and trading without invoices, the department said.

Entrepreneurs who create artificial scarcity during the epidemic, blackmail at high prices, and engage in unwanted activities such as price hikes have been prosecuted or fined by the department, district administration office, and other agencies by monitoring the joint market.