World Consumer Rights Day today

Warangal: Consumers in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are lagging behind in comparison to other states in protecting their rights, pointed out the State Federation of Consumers Councils vice-president Pallepadu Damodar. Of the total complaints lodged with National Consumer Helpline (NCH) by the consumers from April 2016 to March 2017, only 1.9 per cent are from Telangana. In the case of Andhra Pradesh, it is much lower at 1.3 per cent, he said.

The figures indicate the reluctance among consumers, when it comes to protection of their rights, he said adding the maximum number of complaints registered during the above period are from Delhi, which is 14.21 per cent of total dockets (42,440) registered. Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Rajasthan are the next four states for which dockets received in descending order ranging from 14.10 per cent to 6.53 per cent of total dockets created, Damodar told The Hans India.

Public must be wary of fraud by e-commerce providers as the number of cases are on the rise. Of the top 10 consumer service sectors, 18 per cent of the complaints are related to e-Commerce industry while second highest percentage of complaints are of electronic products (17%) followed by telecom sector (14%).

e- Commerce is the sector, both Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Consumer (B2C) for which maximum dockets (nearly 44440) are registered at the NCH. Most of the complaints (22 per cent) are related to no refund of the amount after returning the product, Damodar explained.

The figures also highlight the need for the intensive efforts by government and non-governmental organisations to educate the consumers about their lawful rights. Very few consumers approach consumer forums when their rights are violated, he said.

He felt that in carrying out consumer protection education programmes focus must be laid on educating the women as the figures at NCH indicate they seldom lodge complaint when cheated by traders or service providers.  

The gender-wise distribution of complaints made by male and female registered at NCH reveals that 92 per cent complaints are by males while a meagre eight per cent complaints are by women, the consumer rights activist said.

The World Consumer Rights Day, which is observed on March 15 every year, has become customary practice. Governments failed to implement Consumer Protection Act enacted in 1986 in an effective manner, he averred.