Minister for Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution and Tribal Affairs Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali today surrendered his gas subsidy in a function organized by the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited to felicitate the consumers who had given up their gas subsidies.A total of 39 officers of the CA&PD and Legal Metrology Department also gave up their gas subsidy on the occasion.The Minister appealed the people to come forward and voluntarily surrender their LPG subsidy so that the money saved can be used for providing the same facility to below poverty line consumers.He further said that there should be complete check on the usage of domestic cylinders for commercial purposes.
He directed the officers of the HPCL to keep a close vigil on the over-charging of gas cylinders in the remote areas of the state and ensure hassle-free home delivery of cylinders to the consumers.It is pertinent to mention here that under the ‘Give it Up’ scheme more than 20 lakh citizens across the country including 17,000 people in the state have given up their gas subsidy.The Minister informed that the Department of Legal Metrology was receiving regular complaints from the market about Ambuja Cements for selling cement bags at exorbitant rates in the state. After the initial enquiry, the department found less quantity of cement in bags, defunct weighing machines and so the department seized all the operations of the company in the state.Director CA&PD G S Chib, State Head HPCL Ajay Singh, Joint Director CA&PD Mansoor Aslam and other officers of the department were present on the occasion.