Driving in and out, rarely we realise that we might just have been cheated on our routine stopovers. Investigators have recently unearthed a possible widespread scam at some of our regular fuel stations.
Recently, a special task force raided suspected pumps in Uttar Pradesh however, an investigative team confirmed those suspicions – how you actually risk being ripped off while refueling.
In the ceramics city of Khurja, the investigative team walked into Uttam Sewa filling station, one of the busiest petrol pumps along the Bulandshahr highway.
Chaman, a fuel attendant at Uttam Sewa, was an insider of the tricks of the trade. He candidly revealed some of them to the investigators, posing as potential buyers of a petrol pump.
“See brother, it is all about setting a chip into it (the dispenser). If you have a solid grip (on the system), you can have the quantity (of the fuel) reduced in connivance with the engineer. Only an engineer can put it in. Whatever configuration you want — 50gm, 40gm — a chip-set is fitted in,” Chaman disclosed.
He was referring to a remote-controlled chip that can be hidden inside fuel machines. This tiny device replaces the original gadget to manipulate deliveries. It works by speeding up meter reading but giving the customers less than indicated.
“There is a remote control. If there is an inspection, just switch it off. It is just like a car-lock remote. When you turn it off, it will deliver full quantity,” Chaman explained, confessing a machine at his workplace had been rigged the same way.
That is not all. Chaman also demonstrated another trick.
He would fit the nozzle of his hose loosely on its hanger so that it doesn’t bring the reading back to zero.
A customer, next in line, would end up getting an under-delivery if he/she fails to keep a vigilant eye on the metre before the attendant fills up.
At Hathras’ Madhav Filling Station, Manager Keshav Singh unravelled how the deceit is executed in collusion with weight and measurement officials.
“The day these machines are stamped (for installation), it is then that the tampering happens. Just ask the person from the weights and measurement department to fix the meter. You tell him to save you 30 gm (ml) in 5 litres. He will detune the dispenser in accordance with what you want,” he said.
It wasn’t an off-the-cuff advice to the investigators. Keshav Singh has deployed the same methods at his own petrol station.
“How much is your machine tampered with?,” asked an investigator.
“It is 20ml, 25ml (per litre).But don’t tamper with the machines that have less customers around. If a doctored machine is caught during inspections, I would still have two machines running okay,” he said.
In Noida, Kartar Singh, an attendant at Malik Filling Station, admitted that machines at his facility were altered to dispense five millilitre less on every litre of fuel.
“Everything is done. No one comes to know of anything. What is 5ml (per litre) but it makes a lot of difference in the long run,” he said.
He disclosed the tampering is done smoothly by professionals called fitters.
In Agra, the investigators visited one of the petrol pumps which has been raided last month for suspected fraud.
At the city’s Friends Filling Station, attendant Bhikam Khan has been working over a decade-and-a-half.
Khan spilled the beans to the investigators.
“What was installed in the machines?,” asked an investigator.
“It decreased the fuel delivery, around 100-150 ml for every 5 litres we sold,” he replied, citing the cheat chips for petrol and diesel deliveries.
“The system was compromised in all our machines. The officials weren’t able to understand. But, they had their doubts and took away some apparatus from one of the dispensers,” he revealed.
India’s fuel demand has grown at its highest pace over the last 16 years. Data shows that the country consumed almost 25 crore litres of diesel everyday and seven-and-a-half crore litres of petrol daily last year.
If the size of the scam is as big as it is suspected to be, under-deliveries for every refuel could just be draining the national economy, with cheats making a killing in illegal profits.
Post Your Comments