Bhopal,Swati Srivastav, March 15 : :The state level event of Global Consumer Protection Day has become more significant with a major achievement that the meeting of State level Consumer Advisory Council was held here after 20 years. The council has been reconstituted three months ago after a gap of 10 years. The meeting was chaired by Minister of State for Civil Supplies Shri Paras Chandra Jain, who is also head of the newly constituted committee. Shri Jain immediately accepted the members’ demand that they should be provided identity cards. All the members of the committee drawn from various regions were present at the meeting.
It was for the first time that the council’s meeting was held on the occasion of Global Consumer Protection Day. Minister of State Shri Jain assured the members that the council’s meeting will be held every third month at various cities of the state. He said that the state government wishes that the process of consumer protection should be fully transparent and has taken several revolutionary decisions during the last one year. Chief Minister Shri Chouhan, who was on Ujjain’s visit today, had himself asked Minister of State Shri Jain to go to Bhopal and attend the meeting.
Shri Jain also corroborated the members’ suggestion that the subject of consumer awareness should be incorporated in school syllabus. He explicitly said that no government scheme can be effective without consumer awareness. He told the members that they will be given information of the next meeting well in advance and their written suggestions will also be sought before the meeting so that decisions can be taken easily at the meeting.
Minister of State Shri Jain has appealed to the state’s citizens that they should not hesitate now in making complaints and fight for their consumer rights. He said that it is quite difficult to get one’s rights without awareness.
Members’ views
The members of the council congratulated the government to reconstituting it and convening at early meeting also but expressed the dismay that the Central Government is not providing adequate quantity of food grains for consumers. They were satisfied that the state government is undertaking intensive efforts for improving public distribution system. The members said that they should be given some necessary powers, if giving financial powers is not possible.
Those present at the meeting included Principal Secretary Food Shri Ashok Das, Food Commissioner Shri Ajit Kesri, managing director of Civil Supplies Corporation Shri KC Gupta, managing director of State Warehousing Corporation Shri Anil Shrivastava, Regional Director of Central Government’s Consumer Affairs Dr. Mohan Nagar, Controller Weights and Measures and other senior officers.
Minister, members inspect exhibition
MoS Shri Jain and members of State Consumer Advisory Council also inspected an exhibition put up at the state capital on the occasion of Global Consumer Protection Day at Bhopal Haat. A large number of people visited the exhibition both on Sunday and Monday and apprised themselves of the ways to save themselves from adulterated items and irregularities in weights and measures.