Consumer bodies suffer due to shortage of manpower

Vijayawada: In a striking revelation it has been found that the implementation of consumer rights and strengthening of enforcement agencies is very poor in Andhra Pradesh as compared to other southern states. Two major departments of the state - the Legal Metrology and Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) have been crippled by staff crunch for more than two decades, especially post-bifurcation. 

Vikas Pandey, president, AP Consumer Rights Organisation, said, “Despite repeated pleas to civil supplies commissioner in 2018, the Legal Metrology department has not been beefed up. Our departments do not have the necessary manpower to tackle various consumer rights violations such as tampering of weighing instruments to MRP violations.” 

“We are now used to the drill of submitting pleas for increasing the manpower and resources to the civil supplies ministers every year,” the officials say.

From ghee adulteration to drinking water, Krishna district and Vijayawada have emerged as a hub for sub-standard and unsafe food products in Andhra. In the last three years, police and food safety officials cracked down over 70 ghee adulteration rackets in Vijayawada alone. But these were only a small part of the problem.

Dr Krishna Veni, a nutritionist running a private clinic in Vijayawada said, “ Artificial ripeners like ethylene can cause an intestinal disorder. An apple a day might keep the doctor away but a waxed apple might need a doctor’s appointment eventually. The effects of these adulterants may not be visible immediately but it has a harmful effect with other food products that people consume.”

According to WHO and Central Public Health norms, one food inspector is required to manage a place with 1 lakh rural population or 50,000 urban population. Going by that norm, Krishna district is short of 57 food inspectors and Andhra requires more 629 food inspectors.

There are routine violations of maxim retail price and discrepancies in weighing scales in the state. Even fair price shops do not give consumers any protection, hitting hard the lower middle class and BPL families.