Kathmandu. Industry Minister Gauri Kumari Yadav has directed to take strict action against the businessmen who set arbitrary prices on consumers taking advantage of the occasion of disasters and festivals. Yadav directed to go to big warehouses and monitor them.

During a discussion with the employees of the Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection at the Ministry on Monday, Minister Yadav said that the activities of artificial price hike, black marketeering and playing with the life of consumers in the market during the time of disaster would not be tolerated under any circumstances.

She directed the market monitoring to make market monitoring more effective, saying a tendency might be seen in the market to increase price arbitrarily taking advantage of the recent situation of big flood, landslide and natural disaster in Nepal.

For the first time, the ministry has formed 16 monitoring teams to carry out market monitoring with special priority. The ministry has made arrangements for these teams to monitor the market on a daily basis and submit a report to Minister Yadav.

On the occasion, Minister Yadav directed the government not to give immunity to consumers based on pressure or access if they were found cheating consumers, black marketeering or price hike.

“Instead of trying to protect someone by saying ‘my man’, anyone found guilty should be brought to justice equally,” she said.

Minister Yadav directed the employees to work with determination so as not to repeat the shortcomings seen in the past government and monitoring system, stressing the need of a strong team for effective monitoring.

She expressed the belief that the newly formed 16 teams would play an important role in controlling the arbitrary price hike seen in the market.

During the discussion, the ministry’s secretary Narayan Prasad Sharma Duwadi said that the ministry is ready to mobilize more manpower if there is a shortage of staff during the monitoring. However, she stressed that the monitoring should not be limited to mere formalities but should be result-oriented.

Secretary Duwadi stressed the need of regular and continuous market monitoring to control such activities, saying complaints of arbitrarily increasing the market price taking advantage of the disaster situation have been increasing.

Similarly, Director General of the Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection, Motiram Sapkota, said that the Department was ready to take action against those indulging in price hike, black marketeering and cheating consumers during the disaster and festival time.

The department will actively mobilize 16 teams to monitor the market price, availability of goods, quality and consumer rights.