Cheat chips: Oil companies show a poor strike rate
The past one week has been full of action for petrol pumps of the state. It is not because of brisk business but due to raids which exposed their expertise in duping consumers by fitting in cheat chips to dispense less fuel.
Worried over STF raids, oil companies also raided 151 petrol pumps in the state, out of which 89 were of Indian Oil Corporation, 36 of Bharat Petroleum and 26 of Hindustan Petroleum.
According to the officials of oil companies, only two petrol pumps were found using extra fittings like chips in Indian Oil owned petrol pumps . Similarly, one Bharat Petroleum owned pump and two of Hindustan Petroleum were found using rigged dispensers. The rest of the (146) petrol pumps were honestly dispensing petrol to consumers, they said. This means the strike rate of oil companies was around 3.5 %. Contrary to this, UP STF raided around 40 petrol pumps in the same duration and found cheat chips in around 34 of them in the state. This means the STF strike rate is 85%.
There is a huge difference in the strike rates of oil companies and UP STF. “The difference between the style of functioning is evident. The approach of the oil companies shows that they want to come out clean but there is a question mark on their raids because they did not have STF officials or police with them. But where ever the STF has raided pumps, it has taken oil companies’ officials along,” said a senior official of UP government.
He said, “The role of the officials of oil companies must be probed for alleged connivance in lthe cheat chip racket. Without their connivance, the fitting of cheat chips was not possible. Their functioning is not at all transparent. They just don’t reveal action taken against their staff despite such a huge cheating racket. As they come under the central government, one is not able to take action against them.”