Patna district magistrate Sanjay Kumar Singh on Thursday emphasised on making consumers in rural areas aware of their rights and the laws that have been framed to fight frauds.

“People in urban areas have some knowledge about consumer protection laws. But awareness is not adequate in villages, particularly those in the remote areas. There is an urgent need to initiate awareness drives in rural areas. I would request non-government organisations to come forward and take the initiative to spread awareness among the rural masses. Students should also join such awareness programmes,” he said while addressing a function organised by the state food and consumer protection department to observe World Consumer Rights Day. The event was held at planetarium in the state capital.

Singh added that people should always collect receipts whenever they purchase anything. “This will help people from falling prey to consumer frauds. And even if one is duped, he or she can show the receipt to fight the fraud. The district consumer forum has in the past one year received 16,781 cases of fraud, of which 14,279 were settled,” he said.

Consumer protection minister Shyam Rajak, principal secretary of the department Shishir Kumar Sinha and Patna divisional commissioner K.P. Ramaiah attended the programme among others.

Rajak, who was the chief guest of the function, said there should be more emphasis on effective implementation of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. He added that the district administration has a major role to play to check consumer frauds.

He added that his department received maximum consumer complaints regarding food materials and LPG cylinders.