Maharashtra to audit weighbridges after farmer complaints

The legal metrology Department of the Maharashtra government has decided to audit, reverify and stamp all weighbridges operating in the state.
The move comes following complaints from farmers of discrepancies and malpractices while weighing farm produce at some weighbridges.
There are 8,300 weighbridges operating across the state.
"The department has decided to introduce auditing and then reverifying and stamping all weighbridges in a phased manner, especially those which have a direct bearing on farmers like the ones being used at the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) markets, sugar factories, cotton and ginning mills," Amitabh Gupta, controller of legal metrology, told PTI.

He said a team had been constituted to study probable malpractices being carried out in electronic weighbridges.
As suggested by the team, two audit reports would be prepared using inputs from the concerned user, repairer and manufacturer of weighbridges at the time of verification/ re-verification and stamping of weighbridges, he said.