LAHORE: Punjab’s district consumer protection councils have settled 18,566 of the 20,255 complaints filed since January, the provincial government said, as it publicised a string of quick refunds won for shoppers in Lahore, Gujranwala and Okara.
Secretary Food Safety and Consumer Protection Dr Kiran Khurshid said on Tuesday that complaints over fraud, unfair deductions and missing goods were being resolved within days. At a review meeting on Monday, she said the councils had settled 3,708 complaints in August and September, imposed fines of more than Rs2.172 million and issued 2,134 warnings.
The department put its resolution rate at 97% and said councils had beaten their target by 115%. Its own year-to-date numbers, however, work out at about 92%, and it did not explain the difference.
Officials gave examples. In Gujranwala, a buyer sold 18-carat gold as 22-carat recovered the full amount within 15 days. In Okara, Habib Bank Ltd returned a Rs600,000 security deposit linked to an HBL Konnect franchise within 10 days of the council’s intervention. A former KIPS College student got back his security fee in 20 days, and a phone lost through courier company M&P’s negligence was traced and handed over within 14 days.
In Lahore, the council arranged a replacement Rs41,000 phone for Ahmad Manzoor from Lahore Mobile, and Tecno gave Rida Zainab a new Rs65,000 handset in place of a defective one. Shopkeeper Asad Ali replaced a substandard LED television sold to a customer named Azam with a new Rs18,000 set, and Ten Fitness and Sports refunded Rs125,000 over a faulty machine.
Fines of Rs2.17 million over two months, set against more than 3,700 settled complaints, suggest councils are relying mainly on mediation and refunds rather than penalties.
Khurshid credited the Consumer Protection App with a sharp rise in filings, saying online complaints were up 46.8%, with 229 received in September, and that more than 12,000 new complaints had been registered since the app’s launch. The department did not give the launch date or explain how the two figures relate.
Kasur, Gujrat, Sargodha and Jhelum were named among the best-performing districts. Gujrat settled 134 complaints in the two months and Kasur 118. Director General Enforcement Imran Qureshi and Additional Director General Azooba Azeem attended the meeting.
Khurshid said protecting consumers was the department’s top priority and that action against violators would continue without discrimination.
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