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Jewellery shops in Berhampur raided

— Photo: Lingaraj Panda

Weights and measures official raiding a gold shop in Bada Bazar area in Berhampur on Monday.

BERHAMPUR: Officials of the Weights and Measures Department raided jewellery shops in the city to inspect their weighing machines on Monday.

The team, led by the assistant controller of the department, N.K. Moharana, raided five major jewellery shops in Bada Bazar area, where most jewellery shops of the city are located.

According to Mr. Moharana, they registered four cases and seized three weighing machines as they were not registering proper weight. It may be noted that similar raids were conducted at some jewellery shops in Bhubaneswar in the recent past.

The officials of the department involved in the raid said small errors in machines at these shops can lead to good amount of loss for customers. “It is the duty of the owners of these machines to get them checked for accuracy regularly as it is related to the faith of customers,” they said.

But the gold ornament traders of the city alleged that the machines were showing small errors due to technical fault.

But seizure of weighing machines which were not providing correct measure of weight was surely a shock for the customers who were in Bada Bazar area to buy gold ornaments. Rajendra Das and Sujatarani Das said the gold merchants should realise that use of erring weighing machines can mar the reputation of Berhampur as a major gold trading centre of Orissa.

People from all parts of the State as well as adjoining Andhra Pradesh come here due to the faith on the quality of gold sold here. But these small errors can mar the faith of these customers as small errors of micrograms mean a good amount of money after the recent price rise of gold, they said.

Another customer, Sukant Biswal said: “after the recent fall of share market people have started investment in gold again. But if one incurs losses in weight while buying gold then the prospect of profit from the investment is also at stake.”

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