Parliament Question: Issues Related to Consumer Affairs in Amritsar and Border Belt Regions

Government of India Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Department of Consumer Affairs LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4488 TO BE ANSWERED ON 20.08.2025 ISSUES RELATED TO CONSUMER AFFAIRS IN AMRITSAR AND BORDER BELT REGIONS 4488. SHRI GURJEET SINGH AUJLA: Will the Minister of CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government has conducted an assessment of consumer rights violations, unfair trade practices or price exploitation in border regions like Amritsar and if so, the details thereof; (b) whether the people of the country are facing lots of health problems due to the rampant adulteration of essential food items, especially in dairy, grains and packaged goods and if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto; (c) the prices of essential commodities often fluctuate sharply in border regions especially in Amritsar and nearby areas due to supply chain challenges; (d) whether the Government commit to a special consumer affairs strategy for the border region especially in Amritsar and the entire border belt to ensure that citizens are not exploited by unfair trade practices, adulteration or illegal market activities; and (e) if so, the details thereof and the action taken thereon? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRI B.L. VERMA) (a) to (e) : Department of Consumer Affairs is continuously working for consumer protection and empowerment of consumers by enactment of progressive legislations. With a view to modernize the framework governing the consumer protection in the new era of globalization, technologies, e-commerce markets etc., the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 was repealed and Consumer Protection Act, 2019 was enacted. Salient features of the new Consumer Protection Act, 2019 are establishment of a Central Consumer Protection Authority(CCPA); simplification of the adjudication process in the Consumer Commissions such as enhancing pecuniary jurisdiction of the Consumer Commissions, online filing of complaint from the Consumer Commission having jurisdiction over the place of work/residence of the consumer irrespective of the place of transaction, videoconferencing for hearing, deemed admissibility of complaints if admissibility is not decided within 21 days of filing; provision of product liability; penal provisions for manufacture/sale of adulterated products/spurious goods; provision for making rules for prevention of unfair trade practice in e-commerce and direct selling. The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 provides for a three tier quasi-judicial machinery at District, State and National level commonly known as “Consumer Commissions” for protection of the rights of consumers and to provide simple and speedy redressal of consumer disputes including those related with unfair trade practices. The Consumer Commissions are empowered to give relief of a specific nature and award compensation to consumers, wherever appropriate.Further, as per Section 38 (7) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, every complaint shall be disposed of as expeditiously as possible and endeavour shall be made to decide the complaint within a period of three months from the date of receipt of notice by opposite party where the complaint does not require analysis or testing of commodities and within five months, if it requires analysis or testing of commodities. To serve the interest of speedy justice to the end consumers, Consumer Protection Act states that no adjournment shall ordinarily be granted by the consumer commissions unless sufficient cause is shown and the reasons for grant of adjournment have been recorded in writing by the Commission. Section 90 and 91 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 provide for punishment for manufacturing for sale or for storing or selling or for distributing or importing any product containing an adulterant or spurious goods, which includes imprisonment or fine depending on the extent of injury to the consumer. Under the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), an executive agency, came into existence on 24.07.2020. It is designed to intervene, to prevent consumer detriment arising from unfair trade practices and to initiate class action(s), including the enforcement of recalls, refunds and return of products. Its core mandate is to prevent and regulate false or misleading advertisements which are prejudicial to the public interest. The National Consumer Helpline (NCH) administered by the Department of Consumer Affairs has emerged as a single point of access to consumers across the country for their grievance redressal at a pre- litigation stage. Consumers can register their grievances from all over the country in 17 languages including Hindi, English, Kashmiri, Punjabi, Nepali, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Maithili, Santhali, Bengali, Odia, Assamese and Manipuri through a toll-free number 1915. These grievances can be registered on Integrated Grievance Redressal Mechanism (INGRAM), an omni-channel IT enabled central portal, through various channels- WhatsApp (8800001915), SMS (8800001915), email (nch-ca@gov.in), the NCH app, the web portal (consumerhelpline.gov.in) and the Umang app, as per their convenience. 1110 companies, who have voluntarily partnered with NCH, as part of the ‘Convergence’ programme directly respond to these grievances according to their redressal process and revert by providing a feedback to the complainant on the portal. Also, Department of Consumer Affairs monitors the daily prices of 38 essential food commodities submitted by the 566 price monitoring centres including 15 districts from Punjab across the country. The prices of food commodities tend to be volatile as they are affected by several factors, such as seasonality in production, adverse weather conditions, supply chain disruptions, rise in international prices etc. Sometimes slight disruptions in the supply chain or crop damage due to adverse weather condition etc. lead to spike in the prices of agri-horticultural commodities. The Daily Retail Prices of 38 Commodities in Punjab especially in Amritsar and nearby areas are at Annexure. To ensure the availability of safe food products to the consumers across the country, FSSAI conducts regular surveillance, monitoring, inspection and random sampling of various food products throughout the year by the officials of Food Safety Departments of the respective States/ UTs and Regional offices of FSSAI to check compliance with the quality and safety parameters and other requirements as laid down under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, and Regulations made thereunder.Further, FSSAI has Risk Based Inspection System (RBIS) where frequency of inspection is decided based on risk associated with Food businesses and thus, mandates annual inspection. Moreover, it also specifies mandatory sampling while inspecting the premises. In cases of non-compliance to the statutory requirements, penal action is initiated against the defaulting Food Business Operators (FBOs) as per the provisions for Offences & Penalties laid under FSS Act, 2006. The details of enforcement activities of food samples analyzed, found non-conforming and penalties etc in the past 3 years are as follows :- Details of Enforcement activities undertaken in last 3 Years Non-Conforming Samples Civil Cases Criminal Cases No. of Labelli No. of Samples Penal ng Penalt Samples found ties Year Sub defects/ Decided No. of ies Analyze non- Realiz Unsafe Standar Mislea with Convi Realiz d conform ed d ding/ Penalty ctions ed (Cr ing (Cr Miscell Rs.) Rs.) aneous 2022-23 177511 44626 6579 21917 16130 28464 33.23 1188 2.75 2023-24 170513 33808 6782 22603 4423 29586 74.12 1161 2.67 2024-25 170535 34388 7945 22516 3931 30142 35.74 1265 3.03 ****ANNEXURE ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF THE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4488 TO BE ANSWERED ON 20.08.2025 REGARDING ISSUES RELATED TO CONSUMER AFFAIRS IN AMRITSAR AND BORDER BELT REGIONS. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Daily Retail Prices of 38 Food Items in Punjab as on 13 Aug 2025 Sri Dera Commoditie Amritsa Ludhian Bathind Barnal Hoshiarpu Faridko Mans Sangru Ropa Amargar Fatehgar Ferozepu Kapurthal Qty Muktsa Bass s r a a a r t a r r h h Sahib r a r Sahib i Rice 1 Kg 40 37 40 40 36 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 45 40 43 Wheat 1 Kg 28 27 28 26 29 28 27 26 27 27 28 27 35 28 30 Atta 1 Kg 32 35 32 31 35 32 33 32 31 31 33 32 40 32 35 (Wheat) Gram Dal 1 Kg 90 89 88 92 85 88 90 85 88 83 88 85 87 88 88 Tur/Arhar 1 Kg 123 133 120 113 116 127 127 125 125 129 123 130 138 119 121 Dal Urad Dal 1 Kg 131 130 132 113 109 132 128 123 130 129 128 130 122 115 125 Moong Dal 1 Kg 117 118 115 105 113 117 117 115 120 110 117 110 110 114 115 Masoor Dal 1 Kg 90 100 92 98 104 93 92 98 93 89 93 90 100 90 92 Sugar 1 Kg 46 45 46 47 51 46 45 45 46 45 46 45 43 45 45 Milk @ 1 ltr 55 62 55 65 66 55 65 63 60 60 61 60 60 64 63 Groundnut 1 Kg 220 212 220 216 222 227 NR 209 NR 220 212 225 212 220 219 Oil (Packed) Mustard Oil 1 Kg 196 200 200 179 191 201 179 183 192 195 191 192 181 184 192 (Packed) Vanaspati 1 Kg 165 167 165 159 183 167 172 161 170 158 166 159 183 164 166 (Packed) Soya Oil 1 Kg 154 161 154 126 138 132 152 130 159 148 155 145 154 143 154 (Packed) Sunflower 1 Kg 183 183 187 165 136 183 176 174 NR 162 NR 154 176 190 179 Oil (Packed) Palm Oil 1 Kg NR NR 132 124 141 134 135 124 NR 140 137 132 109 137 154 (Packed) Gur 1 Kg 57 58 57 50 57 57 60 54 57 48 58 48 53 60 57 Tea Loose 1 Kg 272 285 267 293 288 283 277 277 257 263 277 250 287 274 277 Salt Pack 1 Kg 29 27 29 30 25 29 29 28 28 28 29 28 27 28 28 (Iodised) Potato 1 Kg 20 22 20 20 19 19 24 22 19 20 21 18 15 20 18 Onion 1 Kg 28 28 27 29 25 27 28 27 23 25 27 25 25 26 28Tomato 1 Kg 68 80 70 67 78 63 80 80 70 60 70 60 80 73 75 Bajra 1 Kg 37 37 35 31 41 36 35 30 40 35 37 36 34 31 44 (whole) Jowar 1 Kg 40 48 38 40 30 42 41 53 38 45 42 45 45 40 56 (whole) Maida 1 Kg 40 39 40 40 42 39 39 39 35 40 40 40 33 40 38 (wheat) Ragi 1 Kg 58 62 57 NR 63 55 62 72 63 67 57 NR 65 61 62 (whole) Suji (whole) 1 Kg 39 42 40 41 42 39 38 39 40 40 41 40 40 40 39 Besan 1 Kg 93 97 92 92 97 92 92 90 88 88 92 85 85 98 97 Desi Ghee 1 Kg 639 560 635 674 625 650 637 602 637 611 634 604 551 615 626 Butter 100 (Pasteurised 60 57 60 60 56 60 60 60 60 58 60 60 53 58 60 gm ) 1 Eggs Doze 70 64 70 68 66 68 63 71 72 70 71 66 73 73 72 n Brinjal 1 Kg 40 48 37 40 35 40 53 58 40 50 52 50 36 35 42 Black 100 Pepper 95 88 97 93 99 95 90 92 97 89 93 95 97 87 93 gm (whole) Coriander 250 39 37 40 37 49 37 41 36 42 40 38 40 47 47 38 (whole) gm Cummin 100 Seed 37 42 34 37 45 35 39 34 38 46 39 49 50 34 44 gm (whole) Red Chillies 100 28 23 28 29 34 28 26 25 37 32 26 27 33 22 32 (whole) gm Turmeric 50 13 20 13 15 15 14 16 13 17 15 15 15 15 14 15 (powder) gm Banana 1 Kg 50 47 47 50 59 50 57 50 50 50 53 50 48 50 49 *****