By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Mar. 16 : Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) organised a rally from its office in Bagdurbar to City Hall, Pradarshani Marg to mark the World Consumer Rights Day on Monday.
The metro organised the rally with the slogan ‘Quality food is the basis of health; consumer rights is the main concern of Kathmandu Metro.’

The rally culminated in a ceremony at City Hall where the city’s Deputy Mayor Hari Prabha Khadgi said that there was a lack of awareness among consumers and elected representatives about consumer rights.

“We all are consumers and consumer rights impacts us all. But many of us are unaware,” Khadgi said, stressing the need to educate children on the matter. “If we educate children then they will inform their guardians.”

Khadgi, who leads the market monitoring team of KMC, informed that the metro would bring a mobile laboratory into operation to test the quality of consumer goods. She also shared the passage of the local act relating to monitoring had made it easier for KMC to work to ensure consumer rights.

Kathmandu’s Chief District Officer Kali Prasad Parajuli urged the local levels to take initiatives to regulate the markets in their jurisdiction and assured everyone that the District Administration Office would coordinate with the regulatory bodies and representatives of businesses to promote and preserve consumer rights.

Similarly, Director of the Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection Sagar Mishra urged the local units to inspect issues of bills and business registration while monitoring the markets.

Madhav Prasad Timilsina, president of the Consumer Rights Investigation Forum, Jyoti Baniya, chairman of the Forum for Protection of Consumers' Rights Nepal, and Tebindra Ratna Shakya, first vice-president of Kathmandu Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, also expressed their views at the event and asked KMC to create a consumer-friendly marketplace in the capital.

According to KMC, cartel, syndicate, fraud, false advertising, black marketing and non-registration of businesses are some of the major problems hindering the implementation of consumer rights.

It informed that it had inspected more than 300 enterprises and had collected more than Rs. 2.5 million by fining the wrongdoers.