Punjab food, civil supplies, and consumer affairs minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu on Thursday launched the e-Daakhil portal along with other welfare schemes during a district-level function organised at Bachat Bhawan, here.
Ashu informed that the e-Daakhil portal would help consumers safeguard their rights. It will provide an effective mechanism to protect them from exploitation at the hands of traders, and will facilitate them in approaching consumer courts with ease, he said, while launching the portal.
Created to enable e-filing of consumer complaints per the new Consumer Protection Act 2019, the portal will facilitate the online filing of complaints by citizens/advocates. He also said that the manufacturer would now be held responsible for defective goods along with the seller under the new Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
He added that under the Dheeiyan Di Lohri special scheme, a series of events will be held throughout the month, during which congratulatory letters penned and signed by the CM will be handed over to the parents of more than 1.5 lakh girls celebrating their first Lohri.
Regarding the Rs 75.64 crore 3-phase smart metering project, he said the consumer-friendly scheme will help reduce human error in manual reading through automatic uploading of data. “From January to December 2021, a total of 96,000 metres will be installed across the state by PSPCL, which will also help curb the malpractice of theft of electricity and improve the reading/billing efficiency and quality,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Regarding the Rs 75.64 crore 3-phase smart metering project, he said the consumer-friendly scheme will help reduce human error in manual reading through automatic uploading of data. “From January to December 2021, a total of 96,000 metres will be installed across the state by PSPCL, which will also help curb the malpractice of theft of electricity and improve the reading/billing efficiency and quality,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}These metres will enable consumers to view instantaneous/live data as well as the last bill data via PSPCL Consumer App, besides maintaining and regulating power consumption. They will have the option to change the meter to prepaid or post-paid.
“Consumers will not need to visit DISCOM offices to register the complaint of wrong meter readings now,” he added.