Published in The Independent on Sunday, 16 March 2014.
Consumers’ complaint centre soon, says Tofail
BSS
The government is going to establish a centre to take complaints from consumers on their sufferings in getting various services, commerce minister Tofail Ahmed said yesterday, reports BSS.
“It is a complaint centre and we’ll name it as ‘Bangladesh National Consumers’ Complaint Centre (BNCCC)’,” the minister said this after attending a seminar at CIRDAP in the city. Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP), a state-run watchdog to monitor the quality of goods and manufactured items, and Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) jointly organised the seminar marking the World Consumers Rights Day.
Theme of the day was “Fix Our Phone Rights”.
DNCRP director general Md Abul Hossain Mia presided over the seminar while commerce secretary Mahbub Ahmed, chairman of Bangladesh Telecommuni-cations Regulatory Commi-ssion (BTRC) Sunil Kanti Bose, executive director of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Professor Mustafizur Rahman, president of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed and CAB president Kazi faruque spoke as special guests.
Detailing the BNCCC, Tofail said the government will take necessary measures after evaluating complaints to be received from consumers. “Establishing such a centre is a demand of time,” he said.
He said the government is contemplating to amend the Consumers’ Rights Protection Act, 2009 to make it a time- befitting one.
A six-member committee has been formed to this end, said the minister.
Referring to Australia and Malaysia where thousands of complaints are lodged and resolved too, he said Bangladesh would also follow the experiences of the developed countries.
Prof Mustafizur said rights of people to various services, including the financial ones, have not been reflected properly in the act.
”A lot has been put in the law regarding the rights of consumers for using goods. But the law has not focused in details on the rights of consumers in getting various services, including mobile banking services,” he said.
Reciprocating the sentiment to amend the act, Mahbub Ahmed said the DNCRP from now on should start working on many issues including incorporation of phone rights in the law.
Agreeing with the fact that rights of the people to the basic phone services, Sunil Kanti Bose said his organization BTRC will have a separate option to look after whether quality of phone services for the people are being hindered.
”We should give special emphasis on rights of people to services instead of food adulteration,” said Kazi Akram Uddin. ”Only people’s right to phone is being violated, the rights are violated in many ways in the country” said the FBCCI chief.