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The government knew who were responsible for the recent acute shortage of soybean oil but did not enforce the law as it would have made the situation even more volatile, said the chief of the consumer rights body yesterday.
Five to six businesspeople are controlling the whole market and it is important to understand why big companies were not fined during the edible oil crisis, said AHM Shafiquzzaman, director-general of the Directorate of National Consumers’ Right Protection.
If one single miller was brought to justice for the offenses they committed at the time, the crisis in Bangladesh would have escalated, he said.
Shafiquzzaman, also an additional secretary of the commerce ministry, said the government knows what the market situation is and who is doing what but it does not react during many major crises because it is a part of its policy.
“The government did what was needed to maintain the supply chain because there was adequate supply of oil in the country but it was not available at the retail level.”
The directorate’s biggest weakness is the lack of adequate data, having no legal source for it and being unable to scrutinise information received from consumers and personal sources, said
“So, the directorate has decided to work jointly with intelligence and law enforcement agencies.”
Irregularities are pervasive in Bangladesh and found everywhere the directorate ever conducted a drive-in, he told a seminar on enforcing the Consumers’ Right Protection Act, 2009.
“I haven’t seen a place where there are no irregularities,” he told the event, which was jointly organised by the directorate and the Economic Reporters’ Forum (ERF) on the latter’s premises in the capital.
Common people don’t get utility services properly from entities like Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority, Dhaka Electric Supply Company and Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company, said Shafiquzzaman.
Often there is the low pressure of gas and load-shedding while water quality is poor, he said.
“In a nutshell, wherever we’re intervening, we’re getting elements of certain levels of irregularities,” he said, hinting that the directorate would conduct drives regarding the services.
There are irregularities in all areas and even at well-known companies. If the directorate can work properly, it will be able to impose penalties on them, said Monjur Mohammad Shahriar, a director of the directorate.
The Consumers’ Right Protection Act and trade bodies need to be strengthened while the directorate should be expanded to make ongoing development sustainable, he said, seeking the media’s cooperation.
ERF President Sharmeen Rinvy spoke at the seminar, moderated by General Secretary SM Rashidul Islam.
(TDS)
