M A I N   N E W S

Petrol at doorstep, cheaper too
Chander Parkash
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, March 31
Don’t bother about the high rates of petrol and diesel. Drive your vehicle without worry just develop ‘contacts’ with people working at oil dumps of the Indian Oil Corporation, (IOC) Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum near Phoos Mandi village, on the outskirts of this city.

These ‘contacts’ will make arrangements for supplying petrol and diesel as per your requirement at your doorstep, that too at astonishingly cheaper rates.

Ever since the oil dumps have been set up near Phoos Mandi village, unscrupulous elements have been minting money, selling petrol and diesel to residents in connivance with drivers of oil tankers.

The district police has arrested three members of a gang involved in such illegal transactions.

Dr Jatinder Kumar Jain, SSP, said here today that three persons, Jaswant Singh, Jagga Singh and Bhola Singh, all residents of Jassi Pauwali, who were arrested today, had been involved in the racket for the past five months.

He said they would buy petrol at the rate of Rs 20 per litre and diesel at the rate of Rs 12 per litre from drivers of tankers. After storing the products in drums, the accused would take these to villages and sell the same to customers. They would charge Rs 25 per litre for petrol and Rs 15 per litre for diesel. The accused would move around on tractor-trailers.

Information gathered by TNS revealed that oil tanker drivers would sell a substantial quantity of petrol and diesel to petty shopkeepers and villagers while transporting the same to various destinations.

A few years ago, the district administration had caught a driver red-handed while selling diesel to a shopkeeper at Tungwali and an FIR in this connection was registered.

Over the years, some villagers had made the illegal sale of petrol and diesel a full-time vocation. Farmers of this area have not faced a diesel shortage even during the peak of agricultural activity.