Commerce Adviser Sheikh Bashir Uddin said necessary amendments to consumers laws must be taken and improvement in administrative capacity of market related institutions must be increased.
Consumers' rights were severely curtailed during the past government. It can't go unchecked. He said this while speaking as chief guest at a discussion on strengthening consumer rights at the TCB auditorium on Wednesday.
The Commerce Adviser said, "During the past fascist period, syndicates destroyed the country's market and business institutions. We have to speak out against syndicates. We have to come out of the culture of unfairly weakening institutions."
He said, "We will do whatever is necessary for consumer rights, including reforming our laws. If we strengthen our institutions and increase their capacity, miscreants will be forced to retreat."
The Adviser said, "We are able to diversify the market. As a result, our work has become easier. This effort to monitor the market has brought relief." We need to restore our purchasing power.
In this regard, the central bank is working to reduce inflation. The Ministry of Commerce has taken measures to diversify market. We want to diversify more. We will all work together to ensure consumer rights. If we have to change our trade policy to do this, we will do so.
Sheikh Bashir Uddin said, during Eid, we provided salt to mosques and madrasas to presence rawhide. This is a completely new decision. In addition, measures were also taken to ensure that passengers were not harassed during the Eid journey.
Overall, we will work together to ensure the right to get products at a fair price and at right price to achieve consumer satisfaction.
CAB General Secretary Humayun Kabir in the opening of the meeting said, due to supervision of the Ministry of Commerce, the Department of Consumer Affairs and BSTI, prices of products did not increase during the past Ramadan.
This shows that it is possible to control prices of products if our institutions are run by qualified people.
Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce Mahbubur Rahman and Director General of the Consumer Affairs Department Mohammad Alim Akhtar Khan were special guests at the discussion meeting.
Also present on the occasion were BSTI Director General SM Ferdous Alam, CAB Acting President Jamil Chowdhury, CAB Advisor Anisul Haque. CAB representatives from various districts, upazilas and divisions of the country were also present.
