Gas agencies can’t force their stove, regulator on you

Gas agencies can’t force their stove, regulator on you

In a bid to clamp down on cases of cheating, the Food and Civil Supplies Department has issued a notification according to which a gas agency cannot force a consumer seeking a new connection to buy a fresh stove and regulator. Agency owners have been told to put this directive up on their notice boards in bold letters. If still found guilty of cheating consumers, the agency will have its licence suspended. The department has been receiving numerous complaints about errant gas agencies for the past few months. During a public hearing in the first week of March, chaired by chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, serious cognisance of these complaints was taken and subsequently the above notification issued. Further, the notice states that if the consumer takes delivery of a cylinder from a gas agency, the latter cannot receive delivery charges from the consumer, as per the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Regulation of Supply and Distribution) Order, 2000. The agency, instead, has to furnish a bill of every item sold to the consumer. Department officials will visit consumers’ homes randomly to see whether gas agencies have provided them with proper bills for new connections. Moreover, the notification stipulates that while a customer is buying a new connection, the agency should give him the option to be able to pay via cheque or demand draft. A senior official from the Food and Civil Supplies Department, on condition of anonymity, said, “For the last few months, we have been getting a number of complaints about delays in delivery of gas cylinders and agency owners forcing customers to buy new stoves. This is completely illegal, and they cannot do this to consumers. Hence, we issued this notification to the gas agency owners.” He added that as per the new guidelines, if any agency was found cheating again, the department official would inform the concerned gas supply company and would ask for a cancellation of the agency’s licence.