Manipur officials find tampered weights at Imphal's Ima Keithel

With shopping for Ningol Chakkouba gathering pace in Imphal, Manipur's Office of Legal Metrology spent four days checking the scales and weights used by vendors at Khwairamband Ima Keithel and other large markets in the valley districts.

The drive ran from 4 to 7 November, just ahead of the festival on 11 November, when families traditionally invite married daughters home. Konjengbam Michael, Assistant Inspector in the Imphal West office, told The Sangai Express the inspections were meant to enforce standards under the Legal Metrology Act, 2009, keep commercial transactions honest and protect buyers.

At Ima Keithel, also called Khwairamband, the office set up a counter where weights and measures were verified and certificates issued. Michael said many vendors were found to have tampered with weights so that they weighed less than the amount stamped on them. Others, he said, were using the correct standard weights.

How the weights were altered

Many of the suspect weights had been carved out and packed with cardboard and thread, then painted over so the change was hard to see, he said. A number of them were 200 or 300 grams lighter than the mass they were supposed to represent. Using such weights is illegal, the inspector said, because a vendor can charge for a kilogram while handing over several hundred grams less.

Weights and scales that met the standard were stamped with the office seal. More than 200 certificates were issued to vendors after verification, Michael said. He added that the Office of Legal Metrology would keep carrying out such inspections.

The report does not say how many vendors were found using altered weights, whether any prosecution has been started, or which other valley markets besides Ima Keithel were covered. Those details were not in the account given to The Sangai Express.

A women's market ahead of a family festival

Ima Keithel, the "mother's market" in the heart of Imphal, is run by women vendors and is one of the busiest places in the city in the days before Ningol Chakkouba. Households stock fish, rice, vegetables and gifts for the daughters they will welcome home. That seasonal rush is precisely when short weights hurt ordinary buyers most, which is why the department timed the drive for the week before the festival.

Short-weighting is an old complaint in retail markets across India. The legal answer is periodic verification, sealing of correct weights and action against those who file them down or stuff them. Sunday's report shows that both things were visible at Ima Keithel this week: more than 200 sets of weights cleared the check, and a separate group had gone to some trouble to hide missing metal under paint and packing.

Shoppers heading to the keithel before Wednesday's festival may take some reassurance from the sealed weights now in circulation. The department's own warning is that the work is not a one-off, and that further inspections will follow.