Advocates’ outfit takes up consumer rights awareness campaign

Helpline getting calls about various grievances, says district unit president

An awareness drive on consumer rights initiated by the city-based Advocates Association for Social Responsibility and Awareness (AASRAA) has started yielding the desired results. The association members have started receiving complaints from consumers against different enterprises for reasons ranging from charging extra money for using a debit/credit card, hospital managements charging additional money from patients, collection of excess fee by school managements, super markets collecting inflated amounts for carry bags, cinema theatres in multiplexes charging more than the MRP for tickets and snacks, non-issuance of claims by insurance companies, banks and chit fund companies and non-completion of constructions by real estate firms. “In our attempt to spread awareness, we have introduced a toll-free number 180088899895 for people to register complaints besides pressing into service a mobile van to reach out to rural population with a word of caution against the unscrupulous practices they may be ignorant about in their day-to-day life,” said the association’s Krishna district president Tarun Kakani, at a press conference here on Saturday.