The anomalies were found when a joint team of the Department of Commerce and Supply Management (DoCSM) and the Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology (NBSM) inspected three jewelry outlets on Monday.[break]
The monitoring team inspected Bhairab Jewelery, New Kumari Jewellers and Handicraft, and New Shakya Abhushan Shop at Bhedasingh.
“We found that Bhairab Jewelery did not have any diamond weighing balance at the shop, was using uncertified 100 gram weights and did not have a business registration certificate either. Likewise, New Kumari Jewellers and Handicraft has not renewed its business registration certificate, did not have necessary weights and was using the same balance for weighing gold and silver, while New Shakya Abhushan Shop was using uncertified 200 gram weights,” said Hari Narayan Belbase, director of DoCSM and chief of the monitoring team.
As per the rules, jewelers need to have separate weighing machines for silver, gold and diamonds. Weighing machines used for measuring silver show only whole numbers whereas machines used for weighing gold should be accurate to two decimal points. The monitoring team has found that most traders have been using the same machines for both metals.
The team has seized 100 gram weights from Bhairab Jewelery and 200 gram weights from New Shakya Abhushan Shop as these were not certified. “We have instructed Bhairab Jewelery to stop selling diamond as the shop did not have a diamond weighing balance,” said Belbase.
The monitoring team has instructed all three shops to correct their mistakes and bring the relevent documents, which they did not have at the time, to the department within seven days. Besides, the shops were also instructed to submit their last 10 purchase bills and the sales bills from mid-April to May 26.
The team has also collected samples of jewelry from all three shops and sent them to the NBSM lab for quality tests. The team has taken a sample of silver utensils from New Shakya Abhushan shop for quality testing.
“We can tell the quality of the jewelries and silver utensils sold by the shops only after the quality test reports are out,” said Belbase.
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