Consumer Affairs State Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanna said special attention will be given to consumer complaints on the reduced volume of Liquefied Petrolium Gas (LPG) in the newly introduced 18 litre cylinders.
He said legal action will be taken against those responsible for this change. The Consumer Affairs Authority on the directive of State Minister Alagiyawanna had carried out spot checks at over 600 gas distribution centres in Colombo and several other areas during the past few weeks with the assistance of relevant authorities to crack down traders who sell these gas cylinders.
Minister Alagiyawanna told the Daily News that when the government is taking every possible step to provide an excellent gas distribution service to consumers countrywide but selling gas cylinders at reduced volume and the short supply of gas cylinders cannot be tolerated any more.
He said the Consumer Affairs Authority also received complaints with regard to a short supply of 18 litre gas cylinders in the market and steps will also be taken in future to make an investigation into the sudden shortages of both 18 litre and 12.5 KG gas cylinders in the open market.
The Minister further said although new introductions such as premium hybrid gas cylinders are welcome to the market, authorities should make sure that they provide an uninterrupted quality service to customers without creating any shortage .
He also said two types of gas cylinders are currently in the market and the difference of both cylinders could be easily identified by applying a separate colour to one cylinder so that consumers could easily identify the cylinder that they should buy.
“In addition the weight should be marked clearly on each cylinder and legal action will be taken against companies violating these regulations,” the Minister added.