Do they weigh cylinders before delivery at home?

MARGAO rConsumers enjoy the liberty to either accept or reject a faulty or an underweight LPG gas cylinder at the time when the cylinder is weighed at their doorsteps by the delivery men? rBut, are the LPG cylinders ever weighed at the consumers doorsteps? And, are the delivery men employed by the gas agencies equipped with the weighing machines to weigh a cylinder right at the doorsteps of the consumers as per the Supreme Court directions? rQuestions are being raised whether the concerned authorities, including the district Collectors, Civil Supplies officials and Legal Metrology officials had at any time mandated the gas agencies to ensure that the delivery men carry with them the weighing machines and weigh the cylinders before the delivery at the consumers doorsteps? If yes, why are the delivery men still not carrying the weighing machines on their person, leave alone weighing the cylinders at the consumers doorsteps? rThese and other questions have come to the fore against the backdrop of attempts by unscrupulous gas agencies and their delivery men to pilfer gas from a domestic cylinder into a commercial one at Benaulim a fortnight ago coupled with the seizure of the faulty weighing machines used by the agencies to weigh the gas cylinders during random checking by the government agencies. rConsumer rights activists say it is an open secret that LPG delivery men neither carry a weighing machine nor weigh the cylinders at the consumers doorsteps at the time of delivery. This raises a pertinent question as to why concerned agencies such as the Civil Supplies department, Legal Metrology, district Collector, and not to mention the oil companies have failed to get the unscrupulous dealers to weigh the cylinders at the consumers doorsteps when it is mandated by the Apex court. rAn Additional District Collector in Goa is designated as a Consumer Protection Officer, and sources in the know say the Additional Collector is empowered under the rules to get the gas agencies weigh the cylinder at the doorsteps of the consumers, but in vain. rGOACAN Convenor and consumer rights activist Roland Martins says that every LPG consumer enjoys the liberty to reject a cylinder if the weighing machine shows that it is underweight. “For the consumer to exercise this right, the delivery men should weigh the cylinder in the presence of the consumer in the first place, which is not happening at most of the places,” he rued. rSalcete Civil Supplies Inspector Ramkrishna Salgaocar was frank in admitting that LPG cylinders are not weighed by the delivery men at the doorsteps of the consumers. “After the Benaulim incident, we have taken serious cognizance of the machinations of the gas agencies and their delivery boys. Surprise checks are mooted periodically by the agencies,” he said. rA week ago, officials of the Legal Metrology and Civil Supplies department went to the town over the seizure of faulty weighing machines used by the gas agencies. The question that has bothered consumers is whether these weighing machines, faulty or otherwise, are ever put to use at the consumers doorsteps to check weight of the cylinders. rSources in the know said that it is simple to arrive at the weight of a cylinder by adding the empty weight of the cylinder and the amount of 14.2 kg of LPG in the cylinder.