Coronavirus: Hand Sanitizers 16-Times Costlier; Medical Stores’ License Cancelled For Looting Customers
The arrival of the coronavirus in the country has led to panic buying of hand sanitizers and maks leading to shortages and black marketing amongst traders. Some sellers on e-commerce websites like Flipkart are quoting 16 times the MRP for a 30 ml bottle of hand sanitizer.
The Centre on March 6 warned of stringent action against hoarding and black-marketing of face masks and hand sanitisers amidst rising demand due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Following the announcement, the licences of five medical stores here have been cancelled after they were found to be selling hand sanitisers and face masks at inflated rates.
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A 30 ml Bottle of Hand Sanitizer Worth a Fortune Now!
Health experts have advised people to keep their hands clean as it may help reduce the risk of spreading of the virus. Hence neighbourhood kirana stores and medical stores are reportedly running out of sanitizers and other liquids to disinfect the hands.
On Flipkart, a seller named SuperRetails has listed a Himalaya PureHands 30 ml bottle at Rs 999, 16 times the MRP.
Flipkart on its help centre said, “You could see different prices for the same product, as it could be listed by many sellers.”
Check out on how the people on Twitter have reacted about the high prices of hand sanitizers at a time of emergency.
Stringent Action Taken on Corrupt Traders!
Officials said, the drug department conducted raids on a number of retail and wholesale medical stores in the district of Ghaziabad following several complaints of black marketing of precautionary equipment to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 infection, such as masks and sanitisers.
The raids were conducted under the supervision of Additional City Magistrate (ACM) upon the instruction of the District Magistrate (DM). The District Magistrate Ajay Shanker Pandey said the ACM himself went to the medical stores and bought face masks and sanitisers when he found that the store owners charged exorbitant prices of these two items and refused to provide bills for the purchase.
Additionally he said, strict action would be initiated against the medical store owners found to be “looting” the people who are scared and trying to prevent spread of coronavirus.
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