LAW makers were yesterday asked to crack down on illicit gas-maintenance workers and make the qualification process tougher in the interests of public safety.
The opinion was voiced during this year's first legislative public hearing held by the Shanghai People's Congress.
More than 40 local resident representatives, scholars, lawyers and gas professionals were invited to the hearing.
The regulation draft stated, in part, that suppliers should offer free in-home safety checks on locals' household gas facilities at least once every two years - a clause that became one of the hot topics of yesterday's hearing.
"We deeply understand law makers' good will to enhance gas-supply safety, but gas workers who come for in-house maintenance and meter reading should bear their identity cards," said Sun Zhongliang, a resident who lives on Luoyang Road, Minhang District.
Cases where people misrepresent themselves as gas workers to rip off senior citizens by doing "safety checks" have been frequently reported in recent years.
The suspects usually ask residents to pay a fee or urge them to buy bogus and expensive alarm systems that "monitor" gas leaks.
City police as early as last December issued warnings about people masquerading as public utility workers.
Even for legitimate gas workers, regulations should have clear guidelines about their qualifications, the hearing was told.
"I did encounter something absurd ... a gas worker always had her husband coming to read meters at my home," said Zhu Anxing, who lives on downtown Yuyuan Road.
"How can untrained people to do the job that concerns people's lives?"
Li Ming, a lawyer, suggested to the hearing that gas meters should be installed outdoors, or the use of a pre-paid IC card so that no regular meter reading is needed.
Several other problems were raised at yesterday's hearing such as whether the gas appliance sales-registration system can really rule out products of inferior quality and whether the overdue payments standard is reasonable.
