As part of ensuring safe food for the country’s citizens through monitoring the market, National Consumer Rights Protection Directorate (NCRPD) is going to continue its all-out drives against food adulteration. NCRPD sources said even though Ramadan has passed, the authorities have decided to carry out continuous drives against food adulterators. Sources said the recent ban on 52 products by the High Court (HC) has caused much commotion in the food industry as well as among the general public. In this context, NCRPD has decided to strengthen its market monitoring activities more. Mentionable, a number of renowned brands and food companies have been fined in the month of Ramadan during anti-adulteration drives conducted by different government agencies. Among other organisations, NCRPD also administered drives during the time. Moreover, the drive resulted in actions against renowned brands like Persona, Aarong, and pharmacy stores which had expired drugs. The HC itself has commended the actions of the Dhaka divisional office of the organisation. It is to be mentioned that as the number of days has increased since the passing of the National Consumer Rights Protection Act in 2009, so have the number of fines. In the last fiscal year (2018-19) alone there have been a total of 7,343 anti-adulteration campaigns which resulted in the penalisation of 19,308 companies. The total amount of fines collected by this time is 14 crore 81 lakh 42 thosuand 150 taka. Other than this, 7,515 consumers have filed complaints to the organisation out of which 7,185 have been resolved. This resulted in the penalisation of 1,468 companies. And, a total of 93 lakh 97 thosuand 700 taka has been collected as fines. From this complainers who received 25 percent of the collected fines is 1, 461 which is equivalent to 24 lakh 39 thousand 325 taka. In total, the organisation has deposited 15 crore 51 lakh 525 taka to the state treasury in the last fiscal year only. Starting from May 5 to June 4 of this year the organisation has conducted 1 thousand 191 campaigns which resulted in the penalisation of 3, 273 companies. In the span of just one month the organisation issued and collected fines amounting to taka 2 crore 49 lakh 94 thosuand and at the same time deposited 2 crore 48 lakh 50 thousand 375 taka to the state treasury. The common populace is also happy with the actions of the Department of Consumer Rights Protection. Assistant Director of Dhaka Divisional Office Masum Arefin regarding the strict actions of the organisation says, “This drive will be more intensified. Whenever we will get information on irregularities we will take action, whether it is on any special day or occasion, it doesn’t matter.” He adds, “Why do we only become active in the month of Ramadan? – We had to face similar questions a number of times in the Ramada. But, the reality is far from it. Our drives against adulteration and market over-watch last all throughout the year. We are conducting such drives even after Ramadan has ended and we will continue to do so in future.”He concludes, “New types of products and services have been created, and accordingly new businessmen and customer types are also coming up. We are conducting drives in different companies selling these products and services, so that the law is not violated. These campaigns would not have been undertaken in previous times. It is to be noted that, the villages are now becoming towns. We also want to extend these campaigns to village and union level, so that the people of marginalized areas get the benefits too. Therefore, we can assure that, as long as there is the issue of customer harassment and law violation in the market, our campaign will continue and it will become more intense day by day. It is a positive aspect for us that due to these campaigns, awareness among the consumers, businessmen and even the general public is increasing and they are becoming respectful of the law.”