MUKAH: Consumers are advised to plan early and properly before going for shopping in order to avoid long queues at business premises during the statewide movement control order (MCO) beginning Saturday (May 29) until June 11.
Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, Mukah head Salihin Den said this was because the ministry had enforced Ops Had 2J from May 26, to avoid overcrowding at shopping centres.
“This is our commitment in controlling and supervising the retailing and wholesaling sectors so that they would operate as usual, without being taken action and ordered to close for flouting the standard operating procedures (SOPs), being imposed from time to time,” he said via WhatsApp on Friday (May 28).
According to him, Ops Had 2J would focus on shopping centres, night markets, pasar tani (jungle produce market) and so on.
He revealed that the current stock of essential goods at Dedicated District Retailers (DDR) was still a lot and sufficient.
Salihin added the ministry also ordered DDRs to increase current stock to ensure that essential goods for Gawai Dayak were sufficient and easily available throughout the Gawai Dayak Festive Season Maximum Price Scheme (SHMMP).
According to him, DDRs were also allowed to keep more stock even if exceeding the limit of control goods throughout SHMMP.
He explained that although many suppliers and wholesalers were from Sibu, this was not an issue because both were under essential services category, and were permitted to operate as usual as long as they complied with SOPs.
Meanwhile, he advised consumers in this division not to engage in panic buying as this would affect the supply of essential goods in the market.
“Do not worry as the enforcement officers and price monitoring officer are always on the ground to check and monitor throughout Gawai Dayak.”
