» All jewelry shops to reopen today

Bullion traders, who have closed their shops since the last 10 days, have called off their protest after the government formed a seven-member taskforce to formulate monitoring guidelines.

Bullion traders were on a nationwide strike since last Wednesday to pressure the government to formulate market monitoring guidelines and to protest government action against three jewelery shops.

A meeting held between bullion traders and the government at the Department of Commerce and Supply Management (DoCSM) has agreed on a three-point deal.

"The meeting formed a seven-member taskforce with authority to formulate market monitoring guidelines and address the issues raised by bullion traders. With this, the gold traders have agreed to call off all their protests," said Narayan Prasad Bidari, director general of DoCSM.

The seven-member taskforce formed under the leadership of Nuta Raj Pokharel, under-secretary at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies, includes representatives from DoCSM, Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Law and Justice from the government side, and one representatives each from the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Associations (FNGSDA) and the Federation of Nepal Gold, Silver, Gems and Jewelry Associations (FNGSGJA). Besides, there will also be two technical assistants from each federation.

Mani Ratna Shakya, president of FNGSDA, said that with the agreement, all their protest programs have ended and they will reopen the shops from Saturday. "We will open our shops from tomorrow, start issuing recommendations to banks from Sunday to buy gold and also fix the bullion prices, something that has been stopped since June 11", said Shakya.

A joint team of DoCSM and Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology had inspected 12 jewelry shops in the capital over the past two months. Lab tests on jewelry samples collected from the shops showed that the traders were cheating customers in terms of the quality and weight of gold, silver and diamond.

Though the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies has prepared a draft proposal to standardize the price and quality of gold, silver, diamond and items made from these, bullion traders were against this, arguing that it does not address their demands and that it was very impractical.

"Now, as the taskforce will formulate new guidelines, the old draft is automatically cancelled," said Bidari.

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