3 years ago
As the festival is approaching, prices of green vegetables including onions and potatoes have skyrocketed in the market. Prices in the retail market have risen sharply compared to wholesale.
Bottle Gourd, which is being sold at Rs 48 per kg in the Kalimati Fruit and Vegetable Market, is being sold at Rs 110 per kg at a retail shop in Kirtipur, while tomato at Rs 68 to 95 is being sold at Rs 140 to 180.
The day after India stopped exporting onions, all vegetables have gone up. General consumers have been directly affected by this.
Consumer rights activists say government regulators cannot intervene in the market and consumers are affected when market traders are controlled. Chairman of the Consumer Research Forum Madhav Timilsina said that not only vegetables but also food, construction materials and clothes are preferred. Timilsina alleged that regulatory bodies used to observe the market only after news came in the media and fined small shops and did not go to the big ones.
Last time, Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection Department, Industry, Commerce and Supplies Minister Lekhraj Bhatt himself went for monitoring. Meanwhile, Department of Consumer Protection has claimed that more than Rs 1.2 million has been collected by imposing fines and action against the traders who were found guilty during the monitoring of vegetables in different places of the Kathmandu Valley.
