MARGAO
Was the whip cracked by legal metrology officials and representatives of petroleum companies against LPG agencies over the failure to use cylinder weighing scales a mere eyewash?
Against the backdrop of the uproar at Benaulim wherein residents allegedly caught red handed LPG delivery van boys pilfering gas from a domestic cylinder, the legal metrology and petroleum officials had gone overdrive, checking randomly delivery vans for the weighing scales.
Take note, the drive might have forced LPG deliv
Was the whip cracked by legal metrology officials and representatives of petroleum companies against LPG agencies over the failure to use cylinder weighing scales a mere eyewash?
Against the backdrop of the uproar at Benaulim wherein residents allegedly caught red handed LPG delivery van boys pilfering gas from a domestic cylinder, the legal metrology and petroleum officials had gone overdrive, checking randomly delivery vans for the weighing scales.
Take note, the drive might have forced LPG deliv
ery vans to carry the weighing scales, but the moot question asked by LPG consumers is simple: Do the delivery van boys weigh the gas cylinders right at the consumer's door steps before delivery? The answer is a firm no.
Inquiries conducted by The Goan on the ground revealed that while LPG delivery vans carry the weighing scales, the delivery boys hardly take the scales to the consumer's door steps, indicating that the scales are being carried in the vans only to satisfy the Legal metrology and petroleum officials. In instances when consumers questioned the delivery van boys on the absence of weighing scales on their person, they coolly reply saying the scales are left behind in the vans. That's not all. The delivery van boys offer to weigh the cylinders only if the consumers insists, indicating that no fiat has gone from the authorities mandating that cylinders ought to be weighed at the consumer's doorsteps at the time of delivery.
Questions are being raised whether the rules offers discretion to the LPG gas dealers to weigh the cylinders only upon request from the consumers or are required to hand over the cylinders after weighing at the doorsteps. Consumer activists point out that even the Supreme Court had held in the recent past that the consumer is entitled to receive the LPG cylinder after it is weighed right at his door steps, but in vain.
A consumer rights activist maintained that consumers should insist on weighing the LPG cylinders at their doorsteps at the time of delivery, but he hastened to add that it does not escape the responsibility of the gas leaders to weight the cylinders before delivery.
Incidentally, Consumer rights group GOACAN had petitioned to the district Collector a month ago to convene an urgent meeting of the stake holders to deliberate on the gas pilferage issue and the weighing scales, but in vain.
Under the Consumer Protection Act, the Collector is the district consumer protection officer and is required to initiate measures to protect the rights of the consumers.
Says GOACAN Coordinator, Roland Martins: "The NGO had petitioned the district Collector when the district was headed by then Collector Swapnil Naik. Since he has been transferred and a new Collector has assumed office, GOACAN will send a reminder to the Collector's office on the need to call a meeting of the stake holders to ensure that consumers are protected and the LPG gas dealers implement the norms in both letter and spirit".
Inquiries conducted by The Goan on the ground revealed that while LPG delivery vans carry the weighing scales, the delivery boys hardly take the scales to the consumer's door steps, indicating that the scales are being carried in the vans only to satisfy the Legal metrology and petroleum officials. In instances when consumers questioned the delivery van boys on the absence of weighing scales on their person, they coolly reply saying the scales are left behind in the vans. That's not all. The delivery van boys offer to weigh the cylinders only if the consumers insists, indicating that no fiat has gone from the authorities mandating that cylinders ought to be weighed at the consumer's doorsteps at the time of delivery.
Questions are being raised whether the rules offers discretion to the LPG gas dealers to weigh the cylinders only upon request from the consumers or are required to hand over the cylinders after weighing at the doorsteps. Consumer activists point out that even the Supreme Court had held in the recent past that the consumer is entitled to receive the LPG cylinder after it is weighed right at his door steps, but in vain.
A consumer rights activist maintained that consumers should insist on weighing the LPG cylinders at their doorsteps at the time of delivery, but he hastened to add that it does not escape the responsibility of the gas leaders to weight the cylinders before delivery.
Incidentally, Consumer rights group GOACAN had petitioned to the district Collector a month ago to convene an urgent meeting of the stake holders to deliberate on the gas pilferage issue and the weighing scales, but in vain.
Under the Consumer Protection Act, the Collector is the district consumer protection officer and is required to initiate measures to protect the rights of the consumers.
Says GOACAN Coordinator, Roland Martins: "The NGO had petitioned the district Collector when the district was headed by then Collector Swapnil Naik. Since he has been transferred and a new Collector has assumed office, GOACAN will send a reminder to the Collector's office on the need to call a meeting of the stake holders to ensure that consumers are protected and the LPG gas dealers implement the norms in both letter and spirit".
