At the National Consumer Day celebrations held at The Institution of Engineers (IE) here on Monday, the weights and measures used to deceive consumers were displayed at an exhibition.
At the stall installed by the department of legal metrology, awareness about defective
weighing and measures was created.
Defective measures
There are a various tricks employed to fool the consumers. From street hawkers to agents who buy from farmers, weights are manipulated to gain more profit, said E G Paatil, assistant controller, Department of Legal Metrology.
“Agents who buy fruits or vegetables from farmers, employ scales and measures which will weigh lesser than the actual weight. This will cause a loss to the farmer, while the agent profits,” he said.
The stall by the department of health showed the various materials used to adulterate food items. Substances used to mix with food products were also demonstrated. Oil companies, department of agriculture and Reserve Bank of India also installed stalls to create awareness about how the consumers were being swindled.
The celebrations was jointly organised by the Mysore district administration and department of food, public supplies and consumer affairs in association with IE.
Greedy practice
Speaking at the ceremony, additional deputy commissioner, Naga Nayak said that despite consumer awareness, consumers are harmed by traders and companies, who resort to greedy practices for profiteering.
“A change in mindset is necessary to bring about awareness among all citizens to put a stop to such practices,” he said and added we should understand that we, by resorting to such practices, will be fooling our own people.
JSS Law College Post Graduate Department chairman S Nataraju briefed about consumer laws.
“Among all the socio-economic legislations in the country, Consumer Protection Act is prominent,” he opined.
He also touched upon the quasi-judicial forums formed for the redressal of consumer grievances.
President of the district consumer grievances redressal forum, T H Narayanagowda, deputy director of the department of food, public supplies and consumer affairs, Kumuda Girish, president of IE, Ananthapadmanabha and others were present.