trichy with the temperature swaying between 39 and 40 degree celsius in this landlocked city for the past few days the demand for natural as well as soft drinks among the local people has gone up exploiting the soaring demand a section of traders in various parts of the city and suburbs have been charging in excess of the maximum retail price mrp for beverages served cold labour department as also consumer organizations responsible for protecting consumer rights have been oblivious to this blatant violation of overchargingsince trichy is considered as a transport hub to reach other parts of the state hundreds of people visit the city every day and it is natural for them to buy cold beverages to beat the heat while the price of soft drinks including local brands was fixed at rs 35 and rs 65 respectively for half litre and 15 litre bottles respectively shops in many parts of the city have been charging rs 2 to rs 5 additionally if the consumer needed it refrigerated in fact it is not just carbonated drinks even buttermilk packets priced at rs 8 per 200 ml packet are being sold for rs 12 a packet if the buyer wants the beverage served cold with grocery shops not offering any bill or written document acknowledging the purchase the public is helpless in raising complaints with the officials concernedciting the electricity bill certain shops are charging above the mrp for refrigerated soft drinks very minimal profit margin offered by the manufacturers is yet another reason for such violation a representative of the traders said as per the legal metrology packed commodities act 2011 it is a punishable offence to sell a product beyond the fixed mrp labour department officials should conduct surprise inspections to prevent such fleecing m sekaran president federation of consumer and service organisations said when contacted an official source with the labour department said that people were not registering complaints formally with them to take necessary action we will conduct surprise inspection but for us to act tough people should come forward with any evidence to report the fleecing an official source with labour department here added many people said that mrp violation has been rampant this summer