Jamshedpur, Oct. 9: A leisurely hot bath on a wintry afternoon almost turned fatal for Rajesh Pandey when his immersion heater suddenly began to emit sparks and then fused into silence. Pandey was lucky that he was not electrocuted.

After buying as many as four bulbs in a month for her kitchen, Vidya Tripathi was at a loss as to why they bust within a week. After making the rounds of several electrical goods shops Vidya realised that the bulbs that she was buying were of sub-standard quality.

Like Pandey and Tripathi, hundreds of consumers are buying sub-standard electrical goods that have flooded the market. The Bureau of Indian Standards has failed to check violation of the Central guidelines, which makes its mandatory for electrical home appliances to maintain ISI standards.

Director of Bureau of Indian Standards Govind Roy said: “Rules laid down by the Central government with effect from February 2002 makes it mandatory for companies to manufacture and sell electrical products which are certified by the bureau.” Products, which should maintain ISI standards, include electric immersions, water heater, iron, stove, tungstun filament bulbs up to 100 watts, PVC insulated cables up to 11,00 volts and electric radiators, he added. The director said the bureau has the authority to confiscate goods, which are not certified.

However, the majority of markets in the steel city are selling electrical goods that are not certified. The owners of electrical shops told this correspondent that they sell these products because customers ask for them as they cost less than the certified ones. “These products are priced less than the branded goods, which are costly due to heavy taxation,” he said.

The proprietor of Vaibhave Electrical on Bistupur main road said the profit margin on PVC cables of a non-certified company is 40 per cent more than ISI cables. “If the government wants to check sale of non-certified products, it should stop manufacture of such goods. What can I do when customers ask for immersion heaters and iron, which have no ISI tag attached to them? I try to convince them to buy branded products. But its not my fault if they end up buying the cheaper non-certified goods,” said the owner of Nishant Electrical in Bistupur market. According to an owner of an electric shop in Adityapur area, which sells a huge quantity of PVC cables every day, the majority of customers belong to the lower-income group “who will be happy even if they could save Re 1”.