KARACHI, Aug 26: The Ombudsman Sindh, Khan Yousuf Jamal, on Thursday announced to constitute a task force with representatives from all stakeholders for implementation of existing laws for consumer protection.
He was speaking at a workshop of all stakeholders, held at a local hotel by the Consumer Protection Council for the promotion of standards and to link consumers with the City District Government Karachi.
He said that after joining as Ombudsman, the Sindh governor, in a one-to-one meeting, had given him the file of the Consumer Protection Ordinance and asked for suggesting ways and means to implement it.
Mr Jamal said about 25 laws and acts already existed in the country, but there lacked a political will and commitment. The governor had, however, now assured of his full cooperation.
He said a focused strategy would be evolved to properly implement the concerned laws. Mentioning the great deal of adulteration in products in the country, he recalled an incident when he was posted at the defunct KMC.
He said the KMC staff had randomly collected six samples of paan from leading paan sellers, and when tested, it was revealed that only two were using proper katha, imported from India.
The other four paan dealers were using animal blood collected from the city's slaughter houses. With such a terrible situation of adulteration and counterfeiting in the city, no punitive action was bein taken against the culprits, he said.
Similarly, the Sindh Ombudsman said that there was uncontrollable adulteration in milk and other food items as well, and deplored the lack of civic consciousness in the country.
He expressed concern over the widespread commercialization in education and health sectors and observed that medical treatment in neighbouring India was much cheaper than here.
Similarly, private schools were charging exorbitantly, which was leading to increasing corruption as every government employee wanted his children to get education in English medium schools and was forced to adopt all means of generating extra income. - APP
