“Almost every” fuel seller in the Maldives is taking advantage of lax certification to cheat their customers by using inaccurate meters, the President of the Fuel Association of the Maldives has claimed.
Mohamed Rasheed accused the trade ministry of failing to certify petrol station meters and allowing the industry to take advantage of consumers for more than 30 years.
The trade ministry retaliated by saying it was impossible for them to check every fuel meter in the Maldives, and blamed the fuel suppliers for failing to inform the trade ministry the meters were uncertified.
Rasheed criticised the trade ministry for being “irresponsible”, claiming that the problem was a big drain on money for both consumers and the Maldivian government.
Chairman of Fisherman Union Ibrahim Umar said the organisations had received many complaint from fishermen that the fuel sellers are “cheating” them by showing them inaccurate measurements from uncertified meters.
Umar claimed that sometimes the fuel sellers “take half a barrel by showing the consumers the wrong meter.”
At a press confernce today, Rasheed called on the trade ministry to approve a law that every fuel station in the Maldives must be certified by the ministry.
Director of the Trade Ministry Solih Hussein said “if the fuel sellers inform us today [they have an uncertified meter] we will put on the seal by tomorrow morning.”
Furthermore, Solih accused the Fuel Association Of Maldives of contradicting its own rules and regulations by exposing its own members to accusations of impropriety by their consumers.
“The Fishermens’ Union can now file a lawsuit against the Fuel Association of Maldives, as they have been selling fuel without certifying their meters, while many of consumers remain unaware of this certification,’ Solih said.
He calls on every consumer in the Maldives not to buy anything measured using a uncertified meter “whether it’s fuel, rice or vegetables.”
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It may be noted that pharmacists are cheating too. Buy the same item in the same pharmacy and keep the bill. You will see, they charge whatever they want.
Since Maldives is a small country it is too obvious that the Ministry could easily identify fuel stations and certify fuel meters or take necessary action against the ones cheating our citizens. There are not many even in Male' for that matter. Irresponsible, that's the word for the Ministry! Try to act more responsible, work for gain of Maldivian citizens not loss!
I agree with Marina. All our drug stores are operated (perhaps owned) by well camouflaged foreigners, especially Keralites.
I feel that it is not only the responsibility of Government or Ministries to check and balance. It should be responsibility of the people too.
Nazeer, thanks for this approach to claim of being the 4th power!
In fact, level of pricing and benefiting has risen to level that something must be done to prevent unauthorized norms of pricing!
I am deeply appalled with the Trade ministries statement, even when the fuel association report such a case against the will of its members. I can foresee the terrible consequences that would arise from such a crucial failure. Foreign investors will loose confidence, soaring of corruption are to name a few. The top government should implement immediate measures and an efficient system to eliminate these flaws despite any cost that would incur to implement this.
Once again I would say that It is utterly unacceptable for the Trade ministry to announce such a statement.
The Government has allowed pharmaceutical business to be done in a criminal way. First, allowing hospitals like ADK to run pharmacies is like handing a child to a pedophile to be exploited to the maximum.
Hospitals are given a free hand to sell often irrelevant medicines, to the patients. .. a huge conflict of national interest and compromise of national health care..
pst pst, when will civil servants work? you are supposed to check fuel meters, you need to ensure that the public is protected. That is what we are paying you to do. The civil service is not a charity organisation.....
i agree with the comments of readers! Our Goverment has teach this to public partners. so they will follow that. and imagine how much money they have been saved on their own accounts out of this.
Who is this Solih? Is he even vaguely familiar with the concept of government? His ministry is paid to ensure ALL meters are monitored by an acceptable monitoring system in case fuel suppliers are dishonest. If you can blame people for not been honest and do not feel responsible for keeping this element of the society in check, what the hell is the point of a government at all?