Darj officials swoop down on shops

SNS, Darjeeling, 2 December 2014:The District Consumer Protection, District Food and Supplies Controller and other departments jointly conducted a raid across Darjeeling town today.

Officials of these departments pounced on four MR shops, two liquor shops, a share market office, some other shops and a couple of pharmacies in the Eden Hospital area.

The crackdown is a part of the Consumer Awareness Campaign, officials said.

Asked the reasons for the raid, Additional District Magistrate Koushik Bhattacharya said they had detected irregularities in one of the ration shops. ‘”The stocks available in the ration shop did not match the amount of stock mentioned in the register. Two meat shops and one stationary shop were fined as they failed to show their licences and was found selling products above the maximum retail price (MRP),” Mr Bhattacharya said. According to him, doctors in the Eden Hospital were found to have been prescribing drugs according to their brand names, when doctors in government hospitals are supposed to prescribe drugs as per their generic names.

He added that such raids will help consumers become more aware of their rights.

Asked if the raids would continue in the days to come, Mr Bhattacharya said: “Initially, we plan to conduct such raids once a week.”