Chandigarh, August 22
The Legal Metrology Wing of the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department, Punjab, has registered a significant increase in performance across several parameters, including compounding fee collection, inspections, and verifications during the April-July 2025 period, compared to the same period last year.
As per official data, the wing collected Rs 1.10 crore in compounding fees between April and July this year, marking a 121 per cent increase over the Rs 49.68 lakh collected during the corresponding period in 2024.
Inspections have also doubled, with 11,035 conducted this year against 5,753 last year. Similarly, cases registered rose sharply from 587 to 1,531. In terms of verifications of commercial establishments, 42,733 were carried out this year compared with 41,625 last year.
Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Lal Chand Kataruchak, while reviewing the department's performance at Anaj Bhawan, lauded the hard work of the officers and urged them to continue working with greater dedication.
He also directed officials to submit detailed proposals for the restructuring of the wing and procurement of modernised equipment to strengthen its functioning.
The minister was informed that the Legal Metrology Wing currently operates standard laboratories at Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Patiala, with new labs proposed at Sirhind and Khanna.
Highlighting the importance of the wing's work, officials noted that its primary objective is to safeguard consumer interests by ensuring that goods sold in the market are accurate in quantity and volume as claimed.
The meeting was attended by Principal Secretary, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Rahul Tiwari, Additional Secretary, PUNGRAIN, Kamal Kumar Garg, and Controller of the Legal Metrology Wing, Manohar Singh.
— ANI
Reader Comments
While increased enforcement is good, I hope this doesn't become another way to harass small shopkeepers. The focus should be on big businesses who deliberately cheat consumers, not the local kirana store owner.
More inspections and verifications mean better protection for consumers. I've personally experienced buying 1kg packets that actually contain only 900gm. This crackdown was long overdue in Punjab!
The revenue increase is impressive, but where is this money going? Shouldn't some of these compounding fees be used to compensate consumers who were cheated? Transparency in fund utilization is important.
Good step! But they need to expand beyond major cities. Rural areas suffer the most from measurement fraud. Hope the new labs at Sirhind and Khanna will help cover more ground across Punjab.
Finally some action against cheating in markets! I've stopped buying loose items because everyone gives less quantity. Hope this continues and doesn't become just a temporary drive. Consumers deserve fair treatment. 🙌
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