All jewelry shops affiliated to NGSGJ had shut down their shops from Tuesday to protest Monday´s surprise inspection carried out by the government, saying the sudden inspection terrorized them but also affected business.[break]
“We have called off the strike and opened our shops from Friday afternoon after the Ministry of Commerce and Supply (MoCS) agreed to formulate standard regulation for monitoring the jewelry shops,” said Ramesh Maharjan, president of NGSGJ, emerging from a meeting between the government and the federation.
After the traders called off their strike, customers who had ordered jewelry were seen thronging the shops at New Road.
MoCS has directed the Department of Commerce and Supply Management (DoCSM) to draft a work plan on monitoring of jewelry shops within 15 days.
“We have directed the DoCSM to prepare work plan based on which amendments to the Joint Market Monitoring Guideline (JMMG) 2012 will be made,” said Deepak Subedi spokesperson of MoCS.
Meanwhile, the price of gold has increased by Rs 1,000 per tola (11.664 grams) on Friday to Rs 53,000 per tola. On Thursday, the yellow metal was traded at Rs 52,000 per tola in the domestic market.
Tej Ratna Shakya, former president of Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers´ Association said that the demand has crossed 50 kg a day up from 30 kg a day.
The traders have requested Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) to increase the daily quota of gold to 20 kg from 15 kg a day. “Though NRB said that it will revise the quota, the decision has not been made yet,” said Shakya.
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