No progress: Consumers say promised improvement has not come about

FAISALABAD/DERA GHAZI KHAN:

Several rallies were taken out in the province to mark the Consumer Day on Tuesday. In Faisalabad a rally was taken out by the Consumer Protection Council and led by MPA Khalida Mansoor.

“People need to be made aware of their rights as consumers so that they can put pressure on the government to ensure that the products being sold to them are safe and sanitary,” she said. Mansoor regretted that people were forced to buy poor quality items despite a Consumer Protection Act in place. Some Dera Ghazi Khan residents also took out a rally. They said, the government had promised that traders would start marking the expiry dates on wheat bags and other items. The protesters said that the government had issued these orders several months ago but that the shop owners and traders continued to sell goods without an expiry date.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2011.