The government has directed all zonal officers to conduct impromptu raids on domestic gas supply agencies across the State to put curbs on the illegal use of LPG cylinders meant for sale to authorised customers.
The Food, Civil Supply and Consumer Protection Department issued a Government Resolution (GR) on December 10 directing all zonal officers to ensure that gas agencies are searched at least once in six months and twice in a year.
The GR stated, “Apart from regular searches, impromptu raids should be conducted taking a cue from the complaints received regarding unauthorised use of domestic LPG cylinders.” The GR directed the zonal officers to ensure domestic LPG cylinders are not used for commercial purposes.
The State government has already directed zonal officers to conduct similar raids on public distribution system (PDS) shops and kerosene licence holders to prevent black-marketing and irregularities in sale of essential goods. The officers have been instructed to conduct inspections at all PDS shops at least once in six months and twice in a year.
An official from the department said, “We have been receiving complaints about the unauthorised use of domestic cooking gas cylinders owing to illegal sale and use in commercial establishments. While planned searches in these agencies is one of the options to overcome the problem, we thought of impromptu raids as a more effective option to tackle the problem.”
The officer also said that those found flouting norms under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 and the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (restriction on use and fixation of selling price) Order, 2000 will be dealt with seriously and sentenced to jail. Officers from each district will have to submit the report to the State government by the fifth of every month.
