People awareness, united movement needs for ensuring consumer rights

DU Correspondent :
People awareness in ordinary level as well as an organised platform for movement is needed for ensuring consumer rights and food security to end the business syndicates.
 Businessmen are organized and they have syndicates in every sector but consumers are not organized and there is not any platform or syndicate to get their rights observed. So, we have to be united and form committees in every district and area to ensure consumer rights.
Speakers said this at a workshop titled ‘Empowering Youth Ambassadors: Understan-ding and Protecting Consumer Rights’, organised by Voluntary Consumers Training and Awareness Society (VOCTA).
Saying that there is no other complementary option except consumers’ awareness to protect their rights, they also urged the youth ambassadors of the organisation to disseminate awareness among ordinary people across the country about consumer rights, to protect and promote the interests of them.
The workshop, held on Tuesday chaired by VOCTA President Prof Hossain Uddin Shekhar at Centre for Advanced Research in Sciences at Dhaka University (DU), was attended by over 40 young ambassadors who vowed to protect consumer rights at different places in the country.
Shekhar said that the VOCTA would form committees in different divisions to accelerate the activities of the organisation. He urged all ambassadors to enrich the VOCTA to enhance the development of the country.
 “We are a sensible part of the country. So we should disseminate awareness among all,” he added.
Expressing concern over the current consumer rights situation in the country, he further said, “There is a syndicate among the producers but not among the ordinary people, therefore, we should organize and have to make a platform and raise our voices loudly”.
“There are three approaches to protect consumer rights. An individual can do it voluntarily if needed while the consumer must be transparent. He also can take shelter in legal assistance and file written complaints with several institutions that deal with consumer rights”.