National Consumers Forum Demands Government Action Against Market Price Hikes

Kathmandu. The National Consumers Forum has knocked on the government's door, demanding an end to the abnormal price hikes and the reign of middlemen in the Nepali market, which have been justified by rising petroleum prices in the international market.

Describing the arbitrary increase in the prices of daily essential goods and transportation—even with minor fuel price hikes—as a "market wildfire," the forum has submitted a five-point special memorandum to Prime Minister Balen Shah.

While expressing gratitude for the government's decision to grant two public holidays to mitigate the fuel crisis, the forum accused the government of being a helpless spectator to the chaos in the market. Drawing attention to the government's failure to protect consumer rights and the right to food guaranteed by the Constitution, Chairman Prem Lal Maharjan warned that failure to intervene in the market immediately could lead to social insecurity.

The memorandum submitted by the forum emphasizes the need to immediately remove unnecessary taxes, including infrastructure taxes on fuel, and to effectively utilize the Price Stabilization Fund. Suggesting that consumers are being exploited as prices of goods rise by up to 20 percent when fuel prices increase by only 5 percent, the forum advised the government to mobilize a Rapid Response Team to break the network of middlemen.

Specifically, the forum demands that the use of electric vehicles and induction stoves be promoted on a war footing without waiting for the upcoming budget to reduce dependence on petroleum products. It has proposed distributing electric stoves through local governments and reducing customs duties to a minimum to make public transport fully electric.

Additionally, the forum has drawn the government's attention to providing irrigation coupons for farmers hit by inflation and relief food cards for the extremely impoverished through the Salt Trading Corporation and the Food Management and Trading Company.

Chairman Maharjan stated that democracy is only felt when the people's stoves are lit, demanding that the government play a parental role and immediately end artificial shortages and syndicates in the market. The forum has also signaled that if the government does not take this memorandum seriously, general consumers will be forced to take to the streets.