Expressing deep concern over the violation of consumer rights, Mukhtar Ali, Executive Co-ordinator of the Consumers Rights Commission of Pakistan (CRCP), has said that all sectors of the economy of the country should take the problems of consumers seriously and create a consumer friendly atmosphere.
He was addressing a seminar on problems of consumers and their solutions, jointly organised by Consumer Rights Watch Group (CRWG) of NUST Institute of Management Sciences (NIMS).
The sole objective of the seminar was creating awareness among students on the issues, existing laws and actions being taken by the various stakeholders to address the problems faced by the consumers.
The seminar started with a visual presentation given by the CRWG President, Arooj Saleem.
The CRWG President gave a comprehensive account of the problems that the consumers in Pakistan face in the form of adulterated food, spurious drugs, poor quality health services, unreliable and costly utilities, etc.
Mukhtar Ali in his address said that the violation of consumer rights in different sectors are growing.
He also mentioned major conventions on consumer rights that Pakistan has ratified, but implementation is not being made on it with letter and spirit.
He said that the major concerns of consumers in Pakistan are non availability of genuine goods and services and public and private sector have failed to address these problems. He said the specific monopolistic and restrictive trade practices are order of the day in the country about which little has been done so far.
He called upon the consumers to regularly give feedback to the government and the Human Rights Commission on their experiences in the area of consumer rights violation.
The Chief Guest Sohail Altaf, Vice President of the Federal Chamber of Commerce briefly talked about the steps that industry is taking to safeguard consumer rights.
Zafarullah Khan, an experienced barrister, talked about existing laws and the difficulties in their implementation. He also explained the ways through which the consumers could seek protection.
The DG NIMS, Dilawar Ali Khan, concluded the seminar by summarising the main points presented by the guest speakers and expressing his views on how to create awareness amongst the consumers about their rights.
He presented NIMS Crest to the chief guest and distributed the shields and certificates to the students at the end of the ceremony.
The DG complimented the president and other members of the CRWG for organising a successful seminar.
He called upon NIMS students to become active advocates of consumer rights protection. He said that through an organised approach in their future assignments in the corporate sector they should ensure the provision of genuine and good quality products and services to their compatriots.