Whither Utility Stores?

Coming in the midst of mounting official adulation of the Utility Stores Corporation in the outgoing holy month of Ramazan, a recent Recorder Report made a disquieting reading. For, according to it, the government-owned entity will appear to have conveniently ignored an urgent request from the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) that it immediately stop the sale of "Utility Banaspati" and "Utility Pakwan" brand ghee through its outlets.
It will be recalled that last August the Consumer Protection Council of Helpline Trust had detected a Karachi outlet of USC selling substandard and unregistered cooking oil and ghee carrying USC brand names. According to Helpline Trust, two tins of Utility Banaspati and Utility Pakwan, packed in reused and rusted tins, also carried an ISO-9002 certification marking along with Pakistan Standard and Quality Control Authority logo.
More to this, the Trust was stated to have maintained that its enquiries had revealed that ISO-9002 certification used by USC had become obsolete in December 15, 2003, and also that the products and the manufacturers were not registered with PSQCA either.
Again, noting that PSQCA laws and guidelines make it mandatory for manufacturers to register cooking oil, bottled water, biscuits, and carbonated beverages with PSQCA, the CPC pointed out that this was no isolated case of violation, as a majority products, freely selling in the market, carrying the PSQCA quality assurance, were not registered with it.
This appears to be why it lamented that no action was taken by the concerned authorities on such grave violation of PSQCA laws, to the mounting agony of the consumers. Reference, in this regard, may also be made to Helpline Trust Chairman Hamid Maker's comments on this aspect of the situation.
For he attributed it not only to a lack of effective Consumer Protection Laws, but also to want of political will even to enforce the existing food and drug laws. This seems to have prompted PSQCA to collect their samples and to send them to its Quality Control Centre (QCC) for necessary tests to determine their quality.
However, as now revealed, the products failed the test and were found not fit for human consumption. It was, seemingly, in the light of the test report that PSQCA, in a letter to the USC Managing Director, urged him to ensure that their sale was stopped forthwith, as they were not only unauthorised, but had also failed the test of conformity.
Many and varied are the instances of USC having failed to prove itself worthy of reliance the changing governments have put in its capability for providing relief in prices to the consumers, particularly in times of crisis or on occasions like the holy month of Ramazan. This makes it all the more intriguing, in view of violation of PSQCA laws. This is, perhaps, unprecedented for a government-owned entity.
Owing its existence to the variously turbulent 1970s, evidently, to the urge of the then government to appease the urban middle class from a populist thrust, it will be seen as having proved incapable of meeting the fond expectations of all the changing governments since then.
Needless to point out, it has outlived itself, notwithstanding the huge losses it has caused to the national exchequer. As such, instead of toying with new ideas to keep it afloat, the government had better give a serious thought to winding up the scandal-ridden organisation.