Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Krushna Chandra Patra today informed ₹69,000 has been collected in fines this year from petrol pumps found guilty of defrauding consumers. A total of seven fuel pumps across the State have been penalised.

Replying to a query from BJD legislator Chakramani Kanhar in the Odisha Legislative Assembly, the Minister further stated in 2024–25, fines amounting to ₹1.61 lakh were collected from 15 fuel pumps for cheating consumers by tampering with dispensing units and delivering less fuel.

Regular raids and inspections are being carried out, and legal action is being taken against offenders under the Legal Metrology Act, 2009 and the Odisha Legal Metrology (Enforcement) Rules, 2011, Patra added.

He also said awareness campaigns are underway to encourage the purchase of BIS-hallmarked gold jewellery. To prevent errors in the standards of hallmarking, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) regularly collects samples from the market and sends them to laboratories for testing. In cases of deviation, action is taken under the BIS Act, 2016, the Minister informed.

Patra further noted out of 318 sanctioned posts under the Directorate of Legal Metrology, 151 remain vacant, and steps are being taken to fill these vacancies.

In his unstarred question, the BJD MLA from Baliguda had sought details on the steps taken by the State Government to address manpower shortages in the Directorate of Legal Metrology. He also asked whether the Government was maintaining strict vigilance on petrol pumps involved in fuel adulteration and on jewellers cheating consumers with substandard gold jewellery.