Consumer rights should be protected at any cost and it is the responsibility of enforcing agencies to safeguard their interests.This was said by the Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali during the inaugural programme of Consumer Awareness Week to be celebrated from October 21 – 27 organized by Legal Metrology Department.Director FCS&CA Jammu, G S Chib and Director FCS&CA Kashmir Tasaduq Jeelani were present on the occasion.Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said that many business men in order to maximize their profits, often forget the interests of consumers and start exploiting them by the means of overcharging, underweighting, selling of adulterated poor quality goods, misleading the consumers by giving false advertisements etc. Therefore to put a check on these unfair trade practices and safeguard the interests of consumers, such awareness programmes should be organized frequently so as to generate maximum awareness regarding consumer rights.The Minister said that consumers should purchase products only after assessing the quality. They should not fall victims to the deceivers, who are engaged in selling substandard goods. He urged all active stakeholders to create mass awareness regarding consumer rights.
Zulfkar said that with the opening of Bureau of Indian Standards office in Jammu, local manufacturers are able to adopt better manufacturing practices as per set Indian Standards. Hallmark on jewellery has been made mandatory so that consumers interest are safeguarded and the regulatory bodies have also been empowered for checking the quality of the products and take requisite action against the violators, he further said.Highlighting the inter dependence of businessmen and consumers, the Minister said that producers and consumers cannot exist without each other; growth of one is dependent on other entity. Therefore the traders and producers need to be conscious of the interests of consumers and should implement self regulation and practice ethical business.
Zulfkar said that consumer rights protection aims at bringing unity among consumers to fight collectively against the business organisations which indulge in unfair trade practices. The importance of consumer protection is to safeguard consumers from any kind of exploitation from business organizations.Stressing on the need to deal with the issue of food adulteration with iron hands, Zulfkar directed all the enforcement agencies including Food Safety and Legal Metrology Department to ensure availability of quality food items in the market especially during festive season.“We have to protect our children from adulterated foods and other harmful chemicals that may be hidden in the daily consumables and ensure that our future generations are able to live in safe and healthy environment”, he said.
The Minister lauded the efforts of Consumer Protection organizations in helping the consumers and educating them towards their rights. He also assured all possible support to them in protecting the rights of consumers.Consumer Protection Act will be strengthened to make the law deterrent to deal with the violators while effective grievance redressal mechanism has already put in place, added the Minister.Highlighting the various initiatives taken up by the department for the benefit of the consumers, the Minister said that 2 food labs are being established one at Jammu and in Srinagar for regular monitoring of food quality being provided to the consumers.Responding to the issues raised by the representatives of trader, consumer protection organizations, Zulfkar said that in addition to the already existing 2 helpline numbers set up by the department, an additional grievance redressal cell will be established at DC office Jammu and will ensure no excessive charging on any products in any circumstances.
Taking forward the initiative of consumer awareness, it was informed to the Minister that Dry Fruit Retailer Association Jammu has assured to regularize the price of dry fruits and to display price, quality and quantity on the packaged items. Further it was informed that price of electric decoration lightings will also be regularized to benefit the consumers.The Minister thanked the trader organizations for showing their concern towards consumer rights and urged them to extend their cooperation with the enforcement agencies for protecting the rights of people.Earlier representatives of Bureau of Indian Standards and Food Safety department informed the gathering about their functioning and informed the participants about the do’s and dont’s before buying any product for their use.
It was informed to the consumers that they should only purchase Hallmark jewellery and ISI certified products and not to purchase unhygienic food items. Food Safety department was asked for ensuring close monitoring of food items especially during festival days and BIS was directed for providing proper advertisement to the do’s and dont’s for the consumers. President Consumer Welfare Association Vikram Gaur, President Consumer Protection Organization D R Danish, President Chamber of Trader Federation Jammu Neeraj Anand and President Federation of Retailers Association Jammu Yashpal Gupta also spoke on the occasion and extended their full support and cooperation to safeguard the interests of consumers.Among others, Joint Controller LMD Jammu V S Sambyal, Joint Director FCS&CA Jammu Mansoor Ahmed Choudhary, Deputy Director LMD Manoj Prabhakar, senior officers, representatives of oil companies, prominent citizens and consumers were present on the occasion.