With the major festivals just around the corner, the Kathmandu Metropolitan City started market monitoring on Thursday. The move aims to discourage traders from creating artificial shortages of goods, engaging in black marketing, and selling expired food items.

“We have planned to monitor 10,000 grocery shops operating in the 32 wards of the metropolis,” said Nurnidhi Neupane, chief of the metropolis’s Department of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry. “We have deployed three teams of metropolis staffers for market inspection.”

Market monitoring is a regular task of local bodies, which they generally carry out during major festivals. In addition to local bodies like the Kathmandu Metropolitan City, the Department of Commerce, Supplies, and Consumer Protection also conducts inspections, especially in main cities like Kathmandu Valley.

“We have trained our staffers for market inspection and counselled them not to harass traders, and have also cautioned them not to get involved in illegal practices,” Neupane said. “We hope that market inspection will prevent illegal activities and that consumers will also be aware of their rights and complain to agencies concerned if anyone cheats on them.”

The city office said that traders must keep a price list of the goods before their shops open for customers; metropolis staffers will compare the prices mentioned in the list with those of the goods, storage place, and goods’ expiry date, among other things.

Consumer spending during festive seasons increases manifold, and chances they get swindled also remain high.

Consumer rights activists say market inspections should be done year-round to protect the rights of consumers.

“Every year during festive seasons, concerned authorities carry out market inspection, which is not new,” said Bishnu Timalsina, general secretary of the Forum for Protection of Consumer Rights. “Had they inspected the market throughout the year or made market inspection a routine job, they should not have done so now with much fanfare.”

Experts say that, in addition to inspecting the grocery shops, concerned authorities must inspect the source of goods, the quality of food, the price at the time of import, and the market price, among other things.

“Consumers in our country are also not aware,” said Timalsina. “Consumers should be made aware of their rights.”

The city office also deploys veterinary inspectors to monitor the health conditions of animals, especially goats, mountain goats, sheep, hens, buffalos and pigs during Dashain.