Port Blair, March 15: World Consumer Rights Day was celebrated in Isles too, together with the rest of the world. To mark the day, the Department of CS&CA organized a function at TGCE Auditorium on the theme ‘Empowering consumers through clean energy transition’. The Commissioner-cum-Secretary (CS&CA), Smt. Nandini Paliwal, IAS was the chief guest on the occasion.
In her address, the Commissioner-cum-Secretary tracing the history said, World Consumer Rights Day was inspired by then President of USA, John F Kennedy, who sent a special message to the US Congress on 15th March 1962, in which he formally addressed the issue of consumer rights. She praised the Department of CS&CA for creating mass awareness on Consumer Rights and its related issues. Congratulating the General Merchants for receiving award for doing cashless transaction, the chief guest said that digital transaction have increased manifold. With further improvement in the connectivity in all the Islands, digital transactions will further improve, she remarked.
Commissioner-cum-Secretary(CS&CA) and Secretary (CS&CA), Ms Ranjana Deswal jointly gave away the awards to the Best FPS, Best General Merchant, Best Employee of CS&CA Department and the winners of Quiz Competitions organized on the occasion of World Consumer Rights Day. The Commissioner-cum –Secretary felicitated Shri Sadan Golder with best employee of the year award for his dedication towards work. Apart from this, awards were also given to best FPS, best General Merchant doing cashless transaction and winners of quiz competition. A short film on consumers’ awareness was also screened.
In her address, the Secretary CS&CA, Ms Ranjana Deswal congratulated all the staff of the Department for conducting consumer awareness programmes in all the Districts. While informing about e-dhakil for registering complaints online, she disclosed that a total of 47 complaints were registered so far in e-dhakil while 80-90 hearings were done online. More awareness is required to be created about e-dhakil portal so that more people can avail this facility, the Secretary added.
In the best FPS category, Shri James, FPS, Prothrapur stood first while Shri Naw Iris FPS, Karmatang Mayabunder and Rashid Yusoof FPS, Kamorta, Nancowry bagged the second and third prize respectively.
In the best General Merchant doing cashless transaction category, Shri M A Majeed of Mubarak Hyper Market, Bengali Club stood first while K. Karupaiah of M/s Karupaiah of Subhasgram, Diglipur and Shri Mohseen Ahmed, M/s Nico Mart, Perka Nicobar stood second & third respectively.
In the quiz competition, the team of D. Prem Kumar &Avishek K. Das of DBRAIT won the first prize while the team of Hemant Das &Yash Narayan of TGCE and the team of M. Naveen &Nitinder Lall of ANCOL bagged the second & third prize respectively. The highlight of the function was the Nukkad Natak presented by students of TGCE on consumer awareness. A group song by TGCE and a classical dance by Ajit Kumar form part of the World Consumer Rights Day.
While enlightening the gathering about the significance of the day, the Deputy Director, CS&CA & Registrar State Commission, Shri Rajesh Kumar said this day is celebrated to highlight the importance of consumer rights and encourage them to protect their rights as consumers. The consumers are also made aware of how they can protect themselves from the abuses and seek redressal in case of violation of their rights, he added. The entire programme was co-ordinated by the Assistant Director, CS&CA, Shri Aneesh Chatterjee.