Hyderabad: There is no system for the common man to realise that he or she is being short supplied at petrol bunks. In 2014, when the undivided state was under the Governor’s rule ahead of bifurcation, over 50 petrol bunks were seized for cheating customers.
After the bunk owners went on strike, the Governor intervened and asked the Legal Metrology department to penalise the owners. No cases were booked.
The fraud can be identified with the help of 5-litre bottles or cans as the shortfall is visible, but in case of 1-litre containers, the shortfall is negligible.
Customers cannot ascertain the amount of fuel going into the vehicle’s tank and unless the Legal Metrology department takes stringent action by booking cases and shutting down the pumps, this will become rampant.
G. Vinay Kumar, GS, Petroleum Dealers Association said, “In 2014, 18 pumps were caught red-handed but no action was taken; the Legal Metrology team stated that the firms had been informed of the fraud but no further action was taken. Cases are still pending and the outlets are running as before. With regard to the summer months, short fall is due to evaporation.”
