KATHMANDU, July 25: Amidst cartelling and unbridled hike in the price of edible stuff in the market, the local administration here raided suspect warehouses and sealed three of them, Saturday. [break]
A joint team from the District Administration Office (DAO) and the Metropolitan Police sealed the main warehouse of KL Dugar Group located at Jadibuti, Koteshwar. They sealed the warehouse with 11 locks. The group, which owns a number of popular food brands, is one of the major suppliers of edible stuff in the country. The warehouse stores a huge amount of rice, lentils and edible oil.
A big team comprising more than 100 police along with officials from DAO also raided the hub of major food suppliers at Kuleshwor. Two warehouses belonging to Pawan Bansal´s Bansal Traders and Shyambaba Enterprises owned by Pawan Agrawal were sealed. The Bansal Traders warehouse was found to contain a huge store of lentils and that of Shyambaba Enterprises, massive stocks of rice and lentils. A bundle of bills and invoices was extracted from the office of Shyambaba Enterprises.
DAO intervened in the market as the price of edibles reached abnormal highs over the past few weeks. Officials say that suppliers have hoarded their stocks so as to take a chance with prices rising. A resident in the neighborhood requesting anonimity told myrepublica.com that Bansal has blocked the supply twice -- once before the budget and again before the announcement of the civil service pay hike.
"We are now looking at stocks and rates," Madhav Ghimire, the DAO officer who led the operation, told myrepublica.com. According to him, DAO will probe the sealed warehouses and prosecute anyone found guilty.
Kuleshwar area has an about a 100 meter stretch where dozens of warehouses operate. "All of them belong to some 20 businessmen," officials say. "A single owner has five warehouses here alone."
The raid team has shown poor timing for their hyped operation involving media persons as observers. All the warehouses other than the two that were raided and sealed-- were closed due to the weekend. "Because it is a Saturday, we could not get into as many warehouses as we had thought," said Inspector Binod Kharel. DAO officials say the area will be under vigilance until the second phase of the operation scheduled on Sunday.
Similarly, the joint team inspected the fruit market at Kuleshwor and the vegetable market at Kalimati. Nothing illegal was found, says Kharel. Like food grains, the capital has seen similar price hikes in fruits and vegetables.
A Home Ministry source said it conducted the raid on its own though the government on Friday had formed a Price Control Committee with Vice-Chairman of National Planning Commission Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwada as coordinator. "I have not received formal information about it, nor the details," Dr Khatiwada told myrepublica.com.
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