Inner-View

The objective of setting up a Consumer Forum was very much felt during the partyless Panchayat regime in which consumers could not bear the extreme exploitations meted out by the establishment in collaboration with a handful of unscrupulous blackmarketeers, hoarders, contractors and other unethical businessmen. Till then consumers had no idea whatsoever regarding their fundamental rights as consumers and even if some had, they had no rights to group up and protest as per the then existing law of the land . That ultimately led to the extreme exploitations of the consumers creating adverse effect to their health as well as their purse. However, there was no one to look into the issue and in such a millieu ,the consumer forum emerged. The emergence was specially sparked following the much talked about import of radiation affected-milk in the country following the leakage in the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in Ukraine of the former Soviet republic. Beside this issue, there was the acute scarcity of drinking water in the Kathmandu valley that created a serious problem for Kathmanduites. The government’s attention towards the welfare of the consumers was miserably hopeless. It was then we subsequently united forming a forum to voice against such issues. From then we started a campaign to sensitize the mass to not to use harmful goods being supplied in the market .

Ironically, even today, there is not much awareness among consumers about their rights. They cannot raise their voice strongly yet, and knowingly or unknowingly, they are very much exploited even these days. I want to categorically declare that there is no government to protect the consumers even a decade after democracy. Every government’s attitude has always remained cynical when it comes to protect the consumers across the board.

There is a need to sensitize and upgrade the morale of consumers. Low quality goods are flooding the market and consumers directly or indirectly are using such goods which will ultimately affect them in many ways. Though consumers are dubbed as "King" by businessmen, they are mostly treated for granted by businessmen in our country . Consumers don’t get the things they want in terms of quality and price. Consumers are the " vulnerable people" who are living across the board and they have to be protected, I presume.

The most important lacking in our society is that there is no ‘ practical law’ in the country to protect the consumers, however, after our repeated requests and pressure, the government brought the Consumer Protection Act just four years back which is yet not implemented and is merely confined in paper.

There are various institutions to look after the issues of consumers. There is Department of Drug Administration to monitor whether the consumers are having quality medicines or not. For checking the quality of products being sold out in the market, there is Nepal Bureau of Standard which gives certificate to those producers who have maintained quality standards and there is another body that looks after food adulteration called Food Research Laboratory (FRL).

However, despite all these institutions, nothing significant is being done for the welfare of the consumers. Considering the fact that Nepal Consumer’s Forum has been raising voice against the culprits in the society and also pressures the government at times, but in vain. Even there is the District Administration Office to receive complaints about the consumers, however, things are not at all moving.

There is an urgent need to establish consumer courts throughout the country to address the complaints of the consumers. The consumers are not aware of the ‘prices, quality and quantity’ of the products. They purchase whatever they are "fed" . If you are purchasing bread and if the item has not been tagged with appropriate price, weight, expiry date, among others, then you are definitely cheated which is understood. So there is a need to strictly implement the CPA to ensure such mal practices on products. There is no system of fixing prices on products and justification should be there why the item is priced that at particular rate ?

In the name of free market economy, Nepalese consumers are being cheated at large as many big traders are indulged in one or the other cartel system which is in practice. This kind of activities should be stopped for which the government should pay a serious heed. Even there is no separate ministry to look after the issues of consumers. Three important components of the government like Commerce, Industries and Supplies are merged under one ministry which is not at all sufficient to protect the interests of the consumers.

We (Consumer’s Forum) have not given hope. We are raising voices for the welfare of consumers. We are spread out in more than 60 districts of the country and have a huge strength consisting of more than 400 thousand members across the board. We are fighting for the rights of consumers and working across the country with the help of the forum’s members.

If a consumer is cheated, there is no system in place to complain. We have to voice concerns about the exploitation and exert pressure on the government to make consumers strong. The government does not have any vision till date to make consumers legally strong. This has been a big hurdles for the protection of consumers’ rights in recent times.

In order to bring things in favour of the consumers’ interest in our level of "low-responsive" society, some level of "physical protests" is necessary. There is a need to kick off a national campaign for the protection of consumers from cheating. Consumer movement is a must.

The people in the government do not have good distribution system. This has hit the consumers’ welfare hard. There is a need to improve the distribution system only then consumers will get a relief. For example, the rice produce available at Nepal Food Corporation (NFC) which is imported from India is not good for health. There are many such cases that can be traced out. Our country has been a dumping ground. Consumers are being cheated with the services provided by the government due to unsystematic and weak monitoring of the products being available in the market.

Though Nepal is rich in water resources, most people do not have access to electricity and even if it is made available, the tariff is very high and on top of that do not get regular electricity supply. ‘Service providers’ under the government are not delivering services as per the system and consumers have become the ultimate victim.

In Nursing Homes, due to wrong diagnosis and operations, at times people even die. In the ensuing period, even if we file a case, nothing can be achieved. In such a situation what welfare you want from the government’s machinaries ?

In corporations there is a provision to appoint a consumer representative on behalf of the public. However, these vacancies are filled, more often than not, with the relatives of the concerned corporation’s boss. In such a situation, there will no one to raise the voice of consumers.

Another example is that beyond the rules of World Health Organization (WHO), various medicines are being flooded in the market which are being used by consumers which have telling effects on their health.

Nepal Food Laboratory is there to check goods whether are the adulterated or not, however, it is not working effectively. Although consumer activities pressured the concerned institutions to take action, they have not been detained or charged so far.

There is no institution to look after the welfare of consumers as of today and consumers, no matter the level of their consciousness, are one way or other exploited.

The government per se has been a big businessman and not working for the welfare of people. In such a frustrating situation, the chances are very slim to provide efficient consumer services to the public . Timely measures are a must to remove the evils surrounding the consumers since long.

Some examples are: During the year 2056 Magh, Mahendra Gurung of Syangja District was operated at Hospital for Advanced Medicine and Surgery in the capital by Dr. Upendra Devkota, the country’s most famous neuro surgeon. But Gurung thereafter was paralyzed for life. Next is the case of cooking oil adulterated with Mexicana seeds about one and half years back in the capital. Although we succeeded initially to withdraw the oil from the market, but later we found the government supplying back the same produce in the markets.

Another important case is with sand extraction from the banks of the rivers which have serious environmental consequences. In this regard, Consumer’s Forum had filed a case at the Supreme Court to halt digging sand from restricted areas which is gathering dust at the court.

In the beginning, TV Shop had advertised their products claiming to reduce obesity. However, the medicines used by consumers yielded no results. Thereafter we had also lodged complaints at the concerned authorities, but in vain.

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Government itself is a businessman: