Saturday June 22,2002
The Times of India
Kolkata: The only way for you, as yet, to ensure you are getting 14.2 kg of LPG per cylinder is to weigh it yourself. And ideally, the total weight plus the cylinder’s 16 kg should be more than 30.2 kg.
According to Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS) member Dipankar Dey, it is mandatory for every delivery man to carry a spring balance. But as yet, not one of them has a spring balance. “A spring balance costs Rs. 500. It will take some time for dealers to be able to procure one for each. Some dealers may not be able to the make the investment right away,” said state LPG Dealers’ Association secretary Bijon Bihari Biswas.
But, plans are afoot to introduce these balances. “We will begin at Alipore soon,” said Biswas on Friday. “About four years ago, there was a flurry of complaints and we took it up with the companies. In the recent past, there have not been too many complaints, but we are going ahead with the procurement of balances nonetheless,” he said.
According to Biswas, each of the association’s 550 dealers has a weighing scale at his outlet and a customer in doubt can have the cylinder weighed. “The problem is that complaints usually come to us when the cylinder is empty. The consumer says it was finished earlier than usual and, therefore, it must have had less LPG. How are we to dispute it?” he said.