The Consumer Association of Bangladesh (CAB) demands a separate division within commerce ministry to protect consumer rights.
The CAB claims that it is not possible to ensure rights as the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP) is not enough for the purpose.
The demand was made during a webinar styled 'Consumers are victims of exorbitant profits and fraud: traders don't care obey law' hosted by CAB on Monday.
CAB organising secretary Syed Mizanur Rahman Raju moderated the virtual programme.
CAB senior vice-president Prof M Samsul Alam said, "We have been demanding a separate ministry for consumer rights for a long time."
"The DNCRP alone is not enough to protect consumer rights, at least for the time being we want a consumer rights division within the ministry."
Mr Alam asserted that his organisation might go for a tougher movement if its demand remained unmet.
CAB vice-president SM Nazer Hossain presented a keynote.
He said the DNCRP, Food Safety Authority and city corporations are conducting market operations to check the dodgy activities of some crooked traders.
Financial penalties are being imposed but malpractices by dishonest traders still continue, he added.
Highlighting activities of various government agencies, Mr Hossain said the base of these unscrupulous traders is so strong that the agencies concerned seemed helpless to them.
Unprincipled traders use a section of bureaucrats, law-enforcement agencies and 'various media' to feed parochial interests using their financial power.
The government helps business chambers and associations but neglects consumers who are taking adulterated and substandard food.
As a result, treatment and medicine are draining a lion's share of their income, according to Mr Hossain.
The gap between traders and consumers is widening following such an unbalanced situation, which is a major obstacle to developing healthy business, he said.
Bhoktakantha editor Kazi Abdul Hannan, CAB general secretary Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan, and CAB treasurer Manjur-e-Khuda Tarafder, among others, also spoke.
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