The gas agencies in the city do not seem to be keen to weigh the domestic gas cylinders before delivering them contrary to the directions of the Supreme Court.
Though the agencies and also the Oil company representatives maintained arrangements are in place to weigh the cylinders if the customer desired so, the facts do not seem to corroborate this. It was found that the couple of vehicles that The Hindu checked did not seem to have had any weighing machines on Monday.
Podi Monu, a resident of Ullal, said he had not seen delivery man carrying weighing equipment. “They just deliver the cylinder and go away taking Rs. 20 more than the billed amount,” he said.
The LPG Gas Distributing agencies that The Hindu spoke to said weighing machines are being carried in the vehicles bringing the gas cylinders. “If the customer wants, the delivery man will bring the weighing machine and weigh the cylinder,” said a HP gas dealer on the M.G. Road. If the delivery man does not weigh the cylinder, the same can be reported to the agency or the company, he said. An HP Gas official said the company insisted on carrying weighing machines much before the directions of Supreme Court. Each of the vehicles of the six HP gas dealers in the city will be carrying a weighing machine. Apart from asking for weighing of the cylinder, the customer can also ask the delivery man to remove the safety cap and check about possible leakage, the official said. The Hindu checked a couple of delivery vans in Valencia on Monday and found they did not seem to be carrying the weighing machine. A Bharath Petroleum delivery van representative said the weighing machine will not be carried in the vehicle but will be kept at the agency’s office. The representative of the HP Gas agency delivery van in Valencia said they carried “an old weighing machine,” which needed to be replaced with a new one. He, however, did not show it when asked to do so.
What SC said
The Supreme Court on October 16 directed the oil companies to ensure that the LPG delivery man carried the weighing machine and the cylinder is delivered to the customer after showing the weight of the gas in his or her presence. This direction was issued by Justices G.S. Singhvi and S.J. Mukhopadhaya in the Civil Appeal No.10126/2010, which is pending in the Supreme Court. An undertaking was made by the counsel for the ministry that instructions will be given to all oil companies to ensure that “in each and every case” of delivery of the cylinder.
