On consumer rights protection

W e are really surprised to see that officials of the National Consumer Rights Protection Department under the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) have limited their activities to handing down monetary fines to the unscrupulous traders for adulteration and weight manipulation of food and other essential items. They should not just confine themselves to this area alone; rather, they should launch an awareness programme to educate people about their rights as consumers of different food and other essential items. If we go through the state of the consumers in Bangladesh, we find a very horrible situation which is not at all acceptable or preferable. Consumers are deceived by sellers of fruits in which toxic chemicals are used either to ripen them or increase its shelf-life, and also by vendors of vegetables containing hazardous chemicals and fish with formalin. The food we are taking for nutrition is causing extensive damage to the various organs of the human body due to the adulteration. Nothing is truly edible if we realise the real situation of the food processing in Bangladesh. We are really unfortunate to have such a situation, but no one in authority is bothered about it. In the developed world, the consumers have their rights protected. The government takes care of public health issues. I have visited Japan a number of times, and have observed how the Japanese government takes so much care about protecting the rights of consumers. If you visit any departmental store to buy any food items in the morning, its price will be higher, the same food items will be offered at a lower price in the afternoon and in the evening, the supermarkets will not sell those food items. They will dump those foods items in the garbage. Why is this? Of course, it is because there is someone to look after public health and that is why they are so strict in maintaining the quality of the food. They do care about public health. Such a situation can be developed in Bangladesh if the government takes appropriate steps to maintain the quality of food. It is not a daunting task. Mere creating a consumer rights protection department will not remove such irregularities in a day. We have to strengthen the department with appropriate logistics support and sufficient manpower. The government has created the National Consumers Rights Protection Department and also enacted the Consumer Protection Act. We are sure even the most educated people do not know what the function of this department is and what has been written in the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) to protect the consumer rights. Public awareness should be created to ensure the rights of the consumer by organising seminars, workshops, putting up posters, festoons, banners, and publishing booklets. Side by side, the traders should be intimated about what steps would be taken if they carry on with the irregularities and adulteration. Furthermore, they should be informed about what damage this kind of adulteration through the use of toxic chemicals is causing to the human body. If two-way communication is established, it is obvious that it would bring some good results. (The writer can be reached at e-mail: mitoo1975@yahoo.com)