Director Consumer Protection Council (CPC) Punjab Nadeem Irshad Kiyani has said that government has adopted various steps for protection and promotion of consumers' rights in the Punjab.
Addressing the members of Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) here on Saturday he said that in this regard Consumers Courts and District Consumers Protection Councils have been established in the Punjab.
Initially district consumers protection councils have established at Lahore, Sialkot, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Multan, Bahawalpur, DG Khan and Sahiwal and each council consists of government and non-governmental members while District Co-ordination Officer would be the Chairman of the council, he informed house.
Similarly, Consumers Courts initially have been set up in Lahore, Sialkot, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Multan, Bahawalpur, DG Khan and Sahiwal districts of the Punjab he added. The Punjab Consumer Protection act 2005 has been practically implemented for ensuring the availability of standard protects and services and to eliminate the practice of substandard products and defective services from the Punjab he said.
Nadeem further stated that consumers complaints against articles of daily use, medicines, petroleum, textile, hosiery products, vehicles of all kind, building material, electronic products and cosmetics and service like health, education, engineering, banking and radio, water, electricity, sui gas, telephone, internet and mobile phones are worth hearing.
He said that adequate efforts were being made to create awareness among the consumers about their rights and to ensure quality articles of daily use and other commodities to the people. It is high time that consumers should come forward and extends their co-operation for purging menace of the sale of sub-standard articles and defective services from the society he added.
In his address of welcome President SCCI Dr Khurram Anwar Khawaja said that it is a fact that there is a lack of awareness among the consumers about their legal and civic rights in the country. He said that in first place the state itself has never made any effort to address the issue of the common consumer adding that state has in many cases not protected the consumers right to a healthy.
Likewise, the private sector has proved unresponsive towards complaints of consumers, exploiting their lack of enough knowledge and awareness in this regard he added. Dr Khurram Khawaja further said that since the very birth of the country manufacturers of various products, services providers and state-owned utility organisation are exploiting the people to maximum.