8 Jewellers, 7 Petro Pumps Taken To Task For Defrauding Customers: Odisha Min

Bhubaneswar: Eight jewellers were found selling low-quality gold ornaments in Odisha in the last three years, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare (FS&CW) Minister Krushna Chandra Patra told the Assembly on Wednesday

Replying to a query of BJD MLA Prasanta Behera, he shared that the discrepancies were found in Sambalpur, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Bargarh, Jharsuguda, Ganjam and Khurda districts. “Taking the issue seriously, the state government has cancelled the registrations of four jewellers and served notices on three others,” he said.

Patra informed that jewellers, whose registrations were cancelled, are Rajashree Jewellery at Kujang in Jagatsinghpur, Suna & Chandi Ghara at Grand Road in Puri, Radhakanta Jewellers at Barpali in Bargarh and Alankara Jewellers in Sambalpur. Notices have been served on Srikrushna Jeweller at Unit-3 in Bhubaneswar (Khurda), Pawan Alankar in Jharsuguda and Srinath Jewellers in Ganjam. “However, the case against Ambika Jewellers at Kuchinda in Sambalpur is sub-judice ,” he said

He further stated that 14 jewellers in Odisha were penalised in the last three years over incorrect gold measurements. “Penalties to the tune of Rs 23,500 were imposed on six jewellers in 2022-23, Rs 1.55 lakh on another six in 2023-24 fiscal and Rs 48,000 was collected as penalty from four jewellery stores in 2024-25,” he added.

Cheating Petrol Pumps

Replying to another query from BJD legislator Chakramani Kanhar, Patra informed the Assembly that Rs 69,000 was collected as fines this year from petrol pumps found guilty of defrauding consumers.

Seven fuel pumps across the state were penalised.

He further noted that fines amounting to Rs 1.61 lakh were collected from 15 fuel pumps for cheating consumers by tampering with dispensing units and delivering less fuel in 2024–25.