Nagaland Police probing fuel adulteration allegation

Our Reporter
Dimapur, April 25 (EMN): The police have said that they are carrying out investigations over reports of kerosene being allegedly mixed in petrol at Gorapatti ward No 2 area, which was brought to light by the Rising People’s Party (RPP).

A police officer told Eastern Mirror that they had collected a sample of petrol in the presence of a magistrate and Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) official after a colony council member of the area filed an FIR in the police station on Thursday last week.

He stated that sample had been collected but “fuel adulteration” can only be confirmed after the probe and people concluding it as adulterated before that can ‘spoil the investigation’.

He shared that the tanker from which the suspected oil sample was collected, had been off-road and parked in the workshop for more than two years but they had collected the sample as there was ‘oil-like’ substance inside the tank.

He said that two other IOCL tanks were also parked near the workshop on that day but they were reportedly brought for repairing. He also informed that workers, who were caught at the workshop on that day, are still in police custody.

The police officer reiterated that after completing all the procedures in courts, they will send the sample to lab outside the state for testing as there are no such facilities in Nagaland.

Dealers laud RPP, clarifies on ROs

The All Nagaland Petroleum Dealers’ Union (ANPDU) has lauded the RPP for bringing to light the alleged fuel adulteration racket in Nagaland, saying that it had been going on right under the nose of the Dimapur district administration and the Dimapur Police commissionerate for many years’.

It also clarified that ‘linchpin of the organised crime syndicate’ do not own 46 retail outlets (ROs) in Nagaland.

‘The ROs which have undergone modernisation (fully digitised) have no leeway to indulge in adulteration and manipulation as all modernised ROs are under 24×7 surveillance of the concerned OMCs (Oil Marketing Companies),’ it read.

It, therefore, said that it was not acceptable to ‘sweep all the other innocent and clean ROs’ under the same spectrum of illegal racket.

The union informed that the fuel tankers which supply oil in Nagaland are fitted and constantly monitored through an app called Vehicle Tracking System. It is digitally locked as soon as they leave the loading depot enroute to the concerned RO and an OTP is received by the receiving RO to open the digital lock to decant the products.

It added that this system was put in place to ‘discourage the fuel tankers from opening the locks enroute’.

‘Adulterated products will never match the density of the loaded products mentioned in the challan provided by the concerned OMCs for that particular load,’ it read.

It questioned ‘why the same person were still operating the racket when they were busted by Acaut in 2016. It is also of grave concern when the matter is subjudice but the defendants are still running the same racket on the same premises’.

The Union further requested the authority to leave no stone unturned to book the erring individuals for the welfare of the society.