Kathmandu, December 4:

Speakers at a programme here today stressed on the need of consumer awareness to curb increasing adulteration in consumer goods, cheating and other illegal activities.

They also said that adulteration in consumer goods, especially on food items and petroleum products is rampant, while black marketing and hoarding of goods are causing artificial shortage. “Less weight, ta-mpering of price lists and information is very common practise, whereas syndication and cartelling are also common in service sectors,” they said, lamenting the government’s inefficiency in curbing such malpractices. “Such activities are blatantly illegal and causing unnecessary problems. There are laws and check and control illicit activities but their enforcement mechanism is ill-equipped,” said Jyoti Baniya, general secretary of Consumer Rights Protection Forum, Nepal.

Making a presentation on consumer education and role of media, Kamal Bahadur Thapa, member secretary of consumer education and awareness sub-committee, said that consumer education is a must to ensure effective implementation of consumer law. He noted that media could play a vital role in raising consumer awareness and making consumer aware of their rights.

Shanker Prasad Poudel, director at the department of commerce informed about various activities that it has been doing to ensure smooth supply of consumer goods. Similarly, Prem Kumar Rai, DG at the department, said that the government is concerned due to increase in violation of consumer rights.

Tirtha Koirala of Kantipur TV, Ghamaraj Luitel of Radio Sagarmatha and Rajendra Raj Timalsina of NTV also shared their views.