Uttam Dhungel, president of Public Forum, an NGO working for consumer rights, said that the picketing was part of consumers´ phase-wise agitation aimed at exerting pressure on the local administration, and other concerned authorities, to take legal action against the company. [break]
“We will launch more stringent protests if the authorities failed to penalize the gas company,” Dhungel told Republica.
In what consumers believe as yet another move to distract them, the office of cottage and small industries on Friday sent a letter to Shiva Prasad Ghimire, the proprietor of the company, instructing the latter to appear within 15 days.
“If Ghimire does not appear before us within the stipulated time, the charge labeled against him will automatically be proved,” Rama Nath Sharma, an official at the office, said.
Ghimire´s company has been accused of exposing consumers to grave risks by tampering with gas cylinders of other companies. Although authorities say Ghimire can easily be booked under Consumer Rights Protection Act-1998, no case has been filed against him as yet.
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