KALABURAGI: At a time when the prices of LPG cylinders are going up, theft of LPG gas from cylinders in the district has come to light.
Each sealed cylinder, which is delivered to houses, was found to be containing about two kg less of gas. Taking advantage of the high LPG cylinder costs, LPG distributors have resorted to cheating customers by reducing the quantity of gas in the cylinders.
The gas theft case was reported in the Alanda Colony in the city. Mukesh Thakur, a resident of the colony, noticed that there is less gas in the cylinder that was delivered to their house. Suspected gas theft, he asked the delivery boy to weigh the cylinder when he came to deliver it, but the latter did not agree.
After a week, when the delivery came with a weighing machine and weighed the cylinder, he said the weight was correct. Meanwhile, Mukesh called the officials to the place and weighed the cylinder again. The officials confirmed that more than 2 kg of gas was stolen from in the cylinder.
There are norms that each cylinder should be weighed and stamped, as approved by the government, before delivery to the customer. But, most of the gas agencies in the state do not stamp the cylinders with the Legal Metrology Department seal. The agencies steal about 2 kg of cooking gas from each sealed cylinder, then refill empty cylinders and deliver it to houses after proper sealing.
In this way, customers who buy the cylinders are being cheated while the agency makes extra profits. Kalaburagi officials have filed a complaint against the gas agency mafia.