The Department of Food, Supplies and Consumer Affairs,Delhi Government…
The Department of Food, Supplies and Consumer Affairs,Delhi Government intensifies drive against hoarders of essential commodities
New Delhi : In view of the festival season, the Department of Food, Supplies and Consumer Affairs has intensified its drive against hoarding of essential commodities, their blackmarketing, overcharging of consumers and other such malpractices by wholesalers and retailers. The drive will continue till 31st October, 2014. As part of this drive, 25 teams constituted by the Department raided 180 premises in different areas of the city on Friday and Saturday. This was stated by Secretary cum Commissioner Food Supplies & Consumer Affairs Sh. Sajjan Singh Yadav here today. The teams were headed by the Assistant Commissioners of the Department and Legal Meterology Officers. He said that every year, during the festival season, the prices of essential commodities show some upward trend and it is important to keep a strict vigil on the prices and take strict and effective action against the unscrupulous elements who try to take advantage of the situation by overcharging consumers, cheating them and hoarding of various commodities.
Sh. Sajjan Singh Yadav informed that the inspecting teams visited different warehouses, of edible oils, pulses, rice, potato cold storages specially in outer areas of Delhi. These included 18 warehouses of Edible Oil, 35 warehouses of Pulses, 23 Rice Mills and 5 cold storages where potato is being stocked. The stock of edible oils, pulses, rice and potato was checked. Once instance of hoarding was found by the inspecting team and FIR against the persons involved under the Essential Commodities Act 1955 is being lodged against the culprits.
Sh. Yadav further informed that during the festival season, a number of commodities are sold in packaged form. For information of consumers, each package must have certain information including Name and Address of Manufactures, Quantity/number of products inside the pack, Maximum Retail Price of the product, Help line number for complaints, details of the packer and so on. No overwriting or tampering of MRP and other information is allowed. But people often complain about various malpractices during sale of packaged commodities. Moreover, under the Legal Metrology Act, 2009, each measuring device must be certified by the Department and the certificate must be prominently displayed in the business premises. Sale of commodities through non certified measures may lead to cheating of the consumers. Therefore the teams inspected wholesale and retail premises in major markets of the city.
The Secretary cum Commissioner Food Supplies & Consumer Affairs said that the teams prosecuted 51 traders for various offences under the Legal Metrology Act. These included 41 prosecutions for use of non certified scales, 6 for non production of verification certificate and 8 prosecutions for non display of verification certificate in the business premises. Besides these, 44 traders were prosecuted for violation under the Packaged Commodity Rules, 2011. These included 21 prosecutions for non display of faulty display of Maximum Retail Price on the package, 13 prosecutions for not mentioning date of manufacturing on the package, and 3 prosecutions for not mentioning date of manufacturing on the package. The violators, on conviction by the court of law, may face imprisonment up to a maximum of 6 months or fine upto Rs 15,000 or both.
Sh. Yadav further said that the raids against hoarders, black marketers and traders found cheating consumers by use of non certified scales or manipulation/non display of information on packaged commodities will continue in the coming days. Strict action will be taken against such people and no one found indulging in such practices will be spared.