Officials at the Department of Commerce (DoC) told Republica that scientific examinations conducted by Department of Standards and Metrology (DoSM) of the samples collected by a monitoring team led by DoC has found the cement brands Mahalaxmi Super Quality, Reliance Super Shakti, Agni, Trishakti, Jagadamba Ultra Premium and Nirman cement as substandard.[break]
“We have written to all six cement factories to stop production and sales after it was found that their products failed to meet the required quality standard,” Kamal Bahadur Thapa, an inspection officer at the DoC said.
The DoC wrote to the management of six factories on Friday to stop production and sales and send their representatives to DoC to furnish explanations within a week. DcC officials said that all the samples were collected from five hardware shops in Balkhu area on June 15.
The DoSM has stated that the samples collected for the test were not as per the Nepal Quality Standards number 49 and 385.” Number 49 sets out the quality of add mixture for cement and Number 385 for its load-bearing capacity.
Of the six cement brands, Reliance Pozzolana Portland Cement (PPC) is of 55 grade while the others are Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) of 53 grade.
On Friday, the DOC sent letters to Nepal Ambuja Cement Factory, the manufacturer of Mahalaxmi; Reliance Cement Pvt Ltd, manufacturer of Reliance; Agni Cement Pvt Ltd, the maker of Agni cement; Narayani Cement Factory, the manufacturer of Trishakti; Jagadamba Cement Factory, the producer of Jagadamba Ultra Premium; and Butwal Cement Pvt Ltd, the manufacturer of Nirman cement.
Jagadamba, Nirman, Reliance and Trishakti are well-known cement brands in Nepal and they also received standard certification from DoSM and ISO certification as well.
According to test report of the DoSM, the test of the sample conducted for 28 days revealed that the samples did not contain the necessary ingredients. The samples were tested also for load-bearing capacity during the same period.
As per Number 46 and Number 385 of the National Quality Standards, the MPA, a standard unit for measuring load-bearing capacity, should be 16 after a week of cement casting. However, the MPA of the all the six cement samples were found to be between 11 and 13.
When asked to comment, Bishnu Prasad Neupane, the owner of Jagadamba cement denied the charged of having inferior quality cement and said, “It is possible that some people have mixed substandard cement in the sacks printed with our brand names.”
He further said that the government cannot stop production on the
basis of one such test. It has check in our factory. Neupane also said that the company has received no letter from the Department of Commerce asking it stop production and sales. As per the standard regulations, industrialists enraged in cheating customers by producing substandard goods can be fined up to Rs 50,000 or imprisonment up to 2 years.
BANNED BRANDS
Cement brand (Manufacturer)
Mahalaxmi Super Quality Nepal (Ambuja Cement Factory)
Reliance Super Shakti (Reliance Cement Pvt Ltd)
Agni (Agni Cement Pvt Ltd)
Trishakti (Narayani Cement Factory)
Jagadamba Ultra Premium (Jagadamba Cement Factory)
Nirman (Butwal Cement Pvt Ltd)
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