Fake PVC pipes used in government projects: Firms

According to S Shanmugavel, Assistant Manager of Finolex Industries, a Pune based PVC pipe manufacturer, while he was on an official visit to Melavalakarai village in Nagapattinam district on May 2017, he witnessed the presence and circulation of fake PVC pipes. “The fake PVC pipes did not have our official hologram. During an enquiry with the villagers of Melavalakarai, they said that such pipes were used for a water project in the panchayat recently,” he said. 

Stating that such duplicate PVC water pipes may pose a danger to public health, Shanmugavel claimed that contractors are using sub standard and fabricated PVC pipes. “They get the fake pipes by spending only 20 per cent of the actual cost of procuring a branded PVC pipe,” he added. 

Similarly, Bengaluru-based Avon Plastic Industries had also come across such complaints of fake pipes bearing their logo. “They were even sold in a few local shops in Ellurpatti village near Thottiyam,” said regional manager of the firm S Prakash Nagarethinam. Complaints in this regard were lodged with the Thirukkuvalai and Kaatuputhur police stations respectively.