A man ferries cylinders towards a shack near Tatanagar station last week. Picture by Animesh Sengupta

A roadside kiosk selling snacks in Bistupur suddenly increased the rate of its pav bhaji by 20 per cent last week.

Convincing customers, the vendor claimed: “How can we keep the price down when we incur losses on every LPG cylinder? We pay Rs 1,400 for a cylinder supposed to weigh 19.2kg, but actually get only 16kg.”

Sonari homemaker Sunita Singh frowned when asked about the LPG cylinder. “I don’t know about weights and measurements. What I know is that earlier a domestic cylinder costing Rs 400 lasted a month, but now it gets over in 14-16 days. There is a racket,” she said.

Both the vendor and the homemaker have a point. Consumers of domestic and commercial LPG cylinders are since the past couple of months facing sustained fuel pilferage.

The district administration has been uninspiring. “We are aware of the problem of gas theft. As there is a crisis in supply of LPG cylinders from various bottling plants, pilferers run a roaring grey market. We try to detect places where the theft is done. On getting specific information, we carry out raids,” said East Singhbhum special officer (rationing) Birendra Bhushan.

With officials demanding to be spoon-fed, corruption is merrily cooking in East Singhbhum and adjoining Seraikela-Kharsawan. Gas theft is a sunrise industry in areas such as Baridih, Loco Colony and Chowka in adjoining Seraikela-Kharsawan district.

Jamshedpur alone has over 1.5 lakh and 3,000 domestic and industrial LPG consumers. But demand exceeds supply. Naturally, the price per cylinder in the grey market is around Rs 20-Rs 100 higher.

The modus operandi of fuel pilferage is simple. The cylinders are unloaded from vehicles with the full connivance of drivers and carried to shacks in bicycles where about 10-15 per cent of the fuel is pumped out and the cylinder resealed. Then, it is taken to the customers. Everyone involved gets a cut.

As per norms, the net weight of a domestic LPG cylinder is 14.2kg and that of its industrial counterpart 19.2kg. Consumers such as Sunita should know that as per the second schedule of the Standards of Weights and Measures (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 1977, the maximum permissible error on domestic LPG cylinder is plus or minus 150gm.

Consumers said they could do precious little.

“When the LPG cylinder is delivered, we weigh it in front of the delivery boy. If we object to the less quantity, the boy tells me to re-send it to the company and get a fresh cylinder. As I have to run my business, I have no option but to accept the underweight cylinder,” said Gopal Sahu, the owner of an eatery in Bistupur.

Sunita added though she had lodged a complaint with the customer service centre against her gas agency, nothing came of it.

“I got no response,” she rued.

Area manager of IOCL’s LPG division (Jharkhand) Uday Kumar may have a solution. “We conduct raids with the help of local police on specific complaints. There is no doubt that some vendors are hand in glove with the pilferers,” Kumar told The Telegraph.

He also added something that Sahu and his fraternity of eatery owners would rejoice over. “Aggrieved commercial consumers may contact our sales officer P.K. Gope at Kamani Centre, Bistupur, every Monday, or call him directly at 8986882202,” he said.

Is your gas cylinder underweight? Tellttkhand@abpmail.com