March 17, 2008	Monday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 8, 1429

ISLAMABAD, March 16: The Consumer Watch Pakistan (CWP) on Sunday urged the government to establish all-powerful consumer protection councils to control prices of essential commodities.

The non-government organisation lamented that the World Consumer Rights Day on March 15 passed without much pledges and initiatives from government circles to provide relief to the consumers.

In fact, it said, commodities’ prices had risen to new heights with no platform or mechanism available to the consumers for redressal of grievances in the face of spiralling inflation unleashed by the market forces. In the circumstances, the incoming government has a tough challenge in store to grapple with.

According to a CWP statement issued here, with the double- jolt of hike in petrol prices in a fortnight, the prices of vegetable and fruits and other kitchen items showed a sky- rocketing trend in Sunday bazaars of Islamabad.

Vendors were quick to respond to Saturday’s increase in the prices of petroleum products, “adjusting accordingly” the price of vegetables and fruits.

Ladyfinger sold for as high as Rs120 per kg in Sunday bazaars. Similar increase was recorded in the prices of other vegetables, including onion, garlic, ginger and tomatoes.

Fruits have simply gone beyond the reach of people with low income. Apples were being sold for Rs150 per kg, recording an increase of Rs25 compared to last week’s prices. In many cases, vendors charged higher than the listed price and there was no mechanism to check them.

As the increase in petroleum prices was inevitable after the unprecedented hike in the international oil market, the incoming government will face the challenge of controlling the sympathetic rise in the prices of essential commodities.

However, the consumers can be shielded from such impact and provided relief by establishing effective consumer protection councils, the CWP statement said.

The Islamabad Consumer Protection Act, which was enacted in 1995, envisaged a Consumer Protection Council that had not been established hitherto.

A similar act framed by Punjab the same year made it mandatory to set up district consumer protection councils in the province.

These councils were established in 11 districts but the all-important provincial council is still missing.

The importance of these councils lay in the fact that they would not only collect market data to abolish anti-consumer practices, but would also keep the government machinery abreast of the market fluctuations so that steps to arrest the trend could be taken well in time.

The CWP had been advocating to the political parties before the February’s general elections to take clear and strong stance on consumer issues.

Consumers in Pakistan should not be left to the brutal whims of the market forces.

The new government should display a strong political will and identify itself with the consumers rather than with profiteers.

Any inaction on the part of new government would undermine the confidence of people in a democratic set-up, for which they had strove hard in recent months.