Maha: Govt plans awareness drive for vehicular fuel consumers

Maharashtra Legal Metrology Department (LMD) is planning to put up public service advertisements at petrol pumps to spread awareness to ensure that vehicle owners are provided the right amount of fuel at the filling-stations.
"It's time the public is educated about the reasons why they get less petrol (or diesel) than they rightfully should. For this, our department has planned to install Public Service Advertisements (PSAs) at petrol pumps to make the consumers aware," Sanjay Pandey, Controller of Maharashtra LMD, said.
"Consumers are not aware that fuel quantity is subject to changes in temperature and hence, they may get less or more quantity of petrol or diesel, depending on what time of the day it is.

"If you buy less than five litres of fuel, be wary, because fuel less than five litres cannot be accurately measured," Pandey said, adding, as there is no mechanism to measure the same.
Fuel-dispensing units in the state are old and tamperable and not temperature-adjusted, he further said.
"The fuel dealers are also on the receiving end of the issue. They are blamed for the irregularities, while the oil companies are unscathed even as the entire equipment is owned by them and the product is also supplied by them," he said.
The drive would be initiated from October 2 from Mumbai, he said, adding, it would be funded by the department from its advertisement fund.

Pandey said the oil companies have washed their hands of the issue, but "Since we have a responsibility towards consumers, we would educate them about it".