Southern States
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Tamil Nadu-Chennai
Additional seals on fuel pumps being removed
By N. Ravi Kumar
CHENNAI, DEC. 8. The additional seals of the national oil companies on the totaliser and measuring units of the fuel dispensing pumps at the city petrol bunks are being removed by the Controller of Legal Metrology.
This follows a directive in this regard from the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
The communication, dated October 22, to the Controller of Legal Metrology of all States and Union Territories, says, ``it has been decided that the measuring unit and the totaliser ( which shows cumulative sales of a pump) of the fuel-dispensing units shall be verified and sealed only by the Weights and Measures authorities in the States''.
The communication, however, allows the oil companies to seal, if necessary, parts other than the totaliser and metering units.
Already, most of the additional seals affixed by the oil companies at the retail outlets in the city have been removed, according to Mr. M.Kannan, Secretary, Tamil Nadu Petroleum Dealers Association.
Simultaneously, the communication urges the Controller of Legal Metrology to ``ensure proper regulation of the fuel dispensing pumps. In case any local issues relating to the totaliser come up, these should be resolved quickly in coordination with the oil companies''.
The issue of affixing additional seals generated considerable debate in the industry with the oil marketing companies standing by their move, which they described as another initiative to ensure that the customers get the right quantity and quality of automobile fuel.
In fact, the face-off between an oil marketing company and the Weights and Measures wing, which functions under the ambit of the State Labour Department reached a flash point early this year, when the statutory agency stopped short of terming the additional seals as counterfeit.
Notwithstanding this, the oil company went ahead and affixed additional seals on the dispensing units at all its 80-odd petrol bunks in the city as it had obtained permission to do so from the Department of Consumer Affairs. The contents of the recent communication, however, indicate that the permission had been revoked.
The presumable reason for affixing the additional seals by the oil companies were customer complaints of short supply at several retail outlets. Interestingly, in several such cases the seals affixed by the Weights and Measures wing remained intact.
Disputing the theory of counter verification, the Weights and Measures wing a few months ago had conveyed to the oil company that putting the additional seals would draw inference that the company had no faith in the system. It was nothing but contempt of the Government, it had added.
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