Cracking down on illegal sale of LPG cylinders in the national capital, the Delhi government today seized 60 cylinders and lodged 35 FIRs against offenders.
The action was taken during raids carried out by the Department of Food Supplies and Consumer Affairs to check sale of underweight LPG cylinders, small-sized illegal cylinders and use of domestic LPG cylinders for commercial activities.
This is the third raid conducted across the city, said S S Yadav, Commissioner (Food & Supplies).
"Teams today raided 53 LPG agencies and found irregularities like sale of underweight LPG cylinders, non-carrying of weighing machine with the delivery vehicle, use of uncertified weighing machine by the delivery boy and non-display of verification certificate for the weighing machine.
"Besides, more than 350 premises were also raided to check sale of illegal small-size cylinders and use of domestic cylinders for commercial purposes. In total, 35 FIRs have been lodged against the culprits by the raiding teams and 60 illegal LPG cylinder have been seized," Yadav said.
He said Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Regulation of Supply and Distribution) Order 2000 issued under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 bans unauthorised possession, supply and consumption of LPG, as well as unauthorized storage and transport of LPG.
The business of filling LPG in small cylinders from big cylinders is very dangerous and may lead to explosions and fire accidents, Yadav said.
"The small cylinders which are illegal and are locally made are also dangerous. Such premises also abet siphoning off of LPG from the domestic gas cylinders and cheating of consumers by supplying underweight cylinders. On conviction, the accused may face imprisonment upto a period of 7 years," he said.
In the last two months, 1,000 premises were raided. As many as 800 LPG cylinders were seized and 95 FIRs have been lodged by the department.
Areas where raids were conducted include Timarpur, Modal Town, Burari, Azadpur, Narela, Bawana, Sultanpur, Badli, Mundka, Okhla, Lajpat Nagar, Ashram, Munikra (R K Puram), Vasant Kunj, Chhatarpur, Kapashera, Mayur Vihar, Laxmi Nagar, Trilok puri, Kalyan puri, Seemapuri, Yamuna Vihar, Karol Bagh, Shastri Nagar, Chandani Chowk and Mangolpuri.
