Opinion

Come 2016, Come Prosperity

03 Jan 2016 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The dawn of a fresh New Year is all about higher expectations and wishes of goodwill and prosperity. Yet, issues such as high cost of living have kept people from celebrating the New Year. Consumers and vendors alike are heavily weighed down by the pros and cons of market goods and price mechanisms during the New Year eve. Driven by consumerism and market oriented policies, many citizens expect that the economic prospects for the coming year would take a favourable turn of events with the introduction of Budget 2016, whereas some feel despondent about the entire subject. Speaking to Daily Mirror, Chairman of the National Movement for Consumer Rights Protection Ranjith Vithanage and the public shared their views concerning the nature of ordinary business and shopping during the New Year eve and how it has affected them.

“Prices of food and textiles have significantly risen during the Christmas and New Year eve”. - Chairman of the National Movement for Consumer Rights Protection Ranjith Vithanage

The consumers are very often prone to purchasing goods of low quality standards. According to him, the prices of food and textiles have significantly risen during the Christmas and New Year’s eve. Speaking to Daily Mirror, he said that authorities, including the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) and the Finance Minister should take responsible measures to address this issue immediately.

“Consumers are not given an opportunity to purchase products of high-quality at a reasonable rate during New Year eve. From food and beverages to textiles, cost of goods has been increased and customers are faced with the tedious task of choosing what goods to purchase at a reasonable rate. For an instance, the prices of all goods have been increased in Kataragama. The cost of potatoes and Big Onions are also very high. While the price of green chillies is Rs. 1,400 at the Economic Centre they are sold at a rate of Rs. 1,800 in ordinary stalls!

Adding to the consumers’ burdens, products sold in the market are very often of low quality. We have requested the CAA to conduct raids in shops, to detect if any low quality products are sold in the market. In addition, consumers should be well aware of fraudsters and be vigilant to ensure that they do not fall prey to fraudulent vendors”.

As the new school term will begin in January, it is natural that class rooms will be painted anew next year. Highlighting that most of the paint products available in the market consists of lead. Such coatings to whitewash classroom walls could seriously affect the health of children. Therefore, it is vital to ensure that classroom walls are painted with high quality wall coatings void of lead. Moreover, the Ministry of Education should take adequate measures to curtail the selling of food such as sweets, deep fried snacks and food with excessive flavour enhancers and preservatives while limiting the availability of food containing wheat in school canteens.

It has been reported that many schools in the country are selling substandard sweets such as jelly, chewing gum, toffees, chocolates etc., imported from elsewhere. Very often sweets sold as such, fail to carry a label displaying where they are manufactured, the date of manufacture and expiry and nutritional information along with the price of the food product. These issues were mentioned in a recent letter addressed to the Minster of Education Akila Viraj Kariyawasam requesting that the Education Ministry should take responsible measures to address these issues at least within the purview of the school.

However, as the New Year approaches, consumers are very much affected by higher market prices and the non availability of good quality products in the market.

Opinion

Come 2016, Come Prosperity

“Prices of food and textiles have significantly risen during the Christmas and New Year eve”. - Chairman of the National Movement for Consumer Rights Protection Ranjith Vithanage

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