BANGALORE: President of the Karnataka State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission Chandrashekharaiah has called upon the State Government to seek funds from the Centre for construction of buildings to house the district consumer forums apart from computerisation of some of the work.

Speaking at the National Consumer Day celebrations here, Mr. Chandrashekaraiah said under the Integrated Project of Consumer Protection, the Centre has been granting Rs. 30 lakh for construction of buildings to each district consumer forum and Rs. 75 lakh to the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission. While the district forums at Belgaum, Hassan and Bijapur have their own buildings, the rest were functioning out of rented premises.

Under the Networking of Consumer Protection project, the Centre has been granting Rs. 50,000 for each district forum and Rs. 1 lakh for the state commission for computerisation. To utilise funds under the project it was imperative for the Government to submit proposals to the Centre. The National Informatics Centre was the implementing agency, he said.

Minister for Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Govind M. Karjol said a week-long programme has been planned at the district level to create awareness about consumers' rights.

Each district has been given Rs. 50,000 to conduct awareness programmes, while Rs. 15 lakh has been released for the 150 schools that have started School Consumer Clubs. Each school has been given Rs.10, 000 to organise events and programmes on the theme of consumer rights and awareness.

Rajajinagar MLA N.L Narendra Babu said that awareness about the consumer rights in rural areas was limited and there was a need to strengthen the system to create awareness about the grievance redressal mechanism available to the consumers.

Earlier, artistes of Karnataka Kala Darshi of Koramangala staged a play on consumer rights.

Tara Ajay Singh, principal secretary, and B.H. Anil Kumar, Commissioner, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department, spoke.

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