Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

New consumer forum office soon

By Our Staff Reporter

VIJAYAWADA, SEPT. 24. Decks have been cleared for the construction of a new building to house the office of the District Consumer Forum-II on a 300 square-yard Government land adjacent to the City Civil Courts.

The demand for the land had been pending with the State Government for the past four years but the allotment was finalised recently, after the forum's new president, Syed Abdullah, who assumed charge a few days ago, took up the issue with the District Collector, K. Prabhakar Reddy. The proposed two-storey building will have a court hall, a visitors' lounge, three separate chambers for the president and two members, and a record room.

According to official sources, the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) will soon take up the construction of the building, estimated to cost Rs. 15 lakhs. The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) had sanctioned Rs. 10 lakhs earlier for the construction. But part of the amount has already been spent on the purchase of computers, a photocopier and office equipment.

Fresh grants required

The Forum will now approach the State Government and if necessary the NCDRC for fresh grants. However, officials said that though 300 square yards had been allotted, efforts were on to acquire an additional 400 square yards adjacent to the allotted land. The allotted land will not be sufficient for the construction of a full-fledged building, they said.

According to the member of the District Forum, P.V.V.S. Murthy, once the new building is completed, it will bring down the number of pending cases in the forum. He said advocates were reluctant to attend the forum's hearings, as the existing building was located at Siddhartha Circle, far away from the Civil Courts Complex. Once the building was shifted, it would enthuse advocates to attend the forum's hearings simultaneously with their regular work, he said.

`Pending cases low'

He said there were only 230 cases pending with the District Forum, a fact that was appreciated by the NCDRC president, M.B. Shah, during his visit to the forum's office on Thursday. In a lighter vein, at a programme on Thursday, Mr. Murthy remarked that the low number of pending cases could be interpreted in two ways - "either it refers to satisfactory adjudication or a lack of awareness on the functioning of the forum."

Most of the 230 cases pertain to chitfund claims, real estate and insurance companies. There are 10 pending cases of alleged medical negligence, some that have been pending since last year.

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