District Collector P. I. Sheikh Pareed assured consumers that the district administration would ensure that the LPG cylinders distributed would be safe, not dated.
He said in a communication here on Thursday that the authorities would see to it that the LPG cylinders reaching the customers were well within their use-by date.
Oil marketing companies have been instructed to take steps to check cooking gas cylinders at different stages between filling at the bottling plants and delivery at the consumers’ houses.
The companies are carrying out tests to ensure that the cylinders can withstand the required pressure and had not passed their use-by date, said the statement.
Instructions have been issued to ensure that the cylinders are checked before they are stored in godowns by the distributing agency.
The distributor shall ensure that the cylinders are well within their use-by date and their valves are not damaged.
The distributor has also been asked to make a record of damaged cylinders, to store them in a safe place and to return them to the oil marketing company concerned within a week.
Technicians delivering the cylinders have the final responsibility for ensuring that the cylinders are safe to use.
They have to ensure that the cylinders being delivered are not past their use-by date and have to clarify on any question raised by the consumers. The oil companies have also been asked to launch a mass media campaign, including the use of short message services, to make consumers aware of the safe use of gas cylinders as well as to list a helpline number in addition to the existing numbers for consumers.
These instructions were issued at a meeting convened by the Collector in the wake of incidents in which some gas cylinders burst, causing damage to homes.
