Food adulteration a cause for concern: Joint Collector
Consumers needed to be more proactive and raise questions whenever a service or a product quality was compromised or subpar, said Joint Collector S. Dilli Rao.
Speaking to students from the district at the Government Arts College here on the National Consumer Day on Monday, Mr. Rao said food adulteration had become a cause for concern.
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had framed rules back in 2011, but awareness among consumers was low, he said, adding that he District Consumer Information Centre should take up the responsibility to reach out to more number of people and make them aware.
Since packaged food was now common, people needed to know their rights and activists should release a booklet that detailed consumer rights and ways of seeking redressal. Winner of an elocution competition, Irshad Ahmed, a student of the college, raised concerns of pendency of cases and delayed judgments. He said consumer courts should be presided over by younger judges instead of retired judicial officers. A number of district consumer courts were short staffed, which was leading to a pile up of cases affecting villagers the most, he said, suggesting mobile consumer courts on certain days.
‘Interactive sessions’
District Consumer Information Centre president Ravindranath Reddy sought cooperation of district officials in organising interactive sessions with people every second Saturday. He suggested that one government official be appointed to deal with consumer affairs, becoming the point of contact for aggrieved consumers.
Later, prizes were given away to winners of essay and elocution competitions.
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