BPC’s inaction to stop sale of adulterated fuel oil

THE New Nation reported on Tuesday that some filling station are making additional profit by selling adulterated fuel oil across the country dodging vigilance of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC). The volume of illegal trade of diesel and petrol stands at about Tk 2,500 crore annually, for which the government is losing huge revenue, a BPC report said. Such adulterated fuel oil is a big threat to automobile engines because they turn dysfunctional soon. The study, made seven months ago, recommended strong vigilance and quality control in filling stations as they are selling adulterated fuel. But BPC’s failure to take necessary actions so far made many critical about their sincerity to stop the illegal money minting.
It seems that a syndicate of private refineries and filling station owners is behind the crime at a time when the government slashed the prices of condensate to Tk. 42.60 per litre from Tk 53 for private oil fractionation plant or small-scale refineries. The government also cut at a sizable margin the procurement price of fuel oil from non-government refineries for octane, petrol and diesel. According to report as many as 12 private oil refineries are cashing in on such huge difference between the retail price and the wholesale rate. These refineries have long been discreetly supplying sub-standard fuel oil to filling stations. It is alleged that some private refineries sell fuel oil directly to filling stations by tank-lorries, although government approved only Padma, Meghna and Jamuna Oil companies in this respect.
Many believe there are two things that need to be considered. Firstly, adulterated fuel oil is on sale throughout the country in some filling station. And secondly, some private refineries are selling fuel oil directly to filling stations by tank lorries; which is totally illegal. Hence automobile engines are facing serious threat from use of such adulterated fuel oil. Since the government is losing huge revenue, it remains unclear why BPC is not sealing the illegal trade.
The crime has been detected seven months ago and the inaction suggests that there is a nexus between the refineries and filling stations sharing unaccented profits. In our view BPC must go into action immediately to save motorists from damage that may cause them from use of poor quality fuel oil. BPC must field monitor and quality control officials in action and law enforcers must simultaneously start spot verification of the oil quality to break the syndicate. Since fuel oil price has come down a bit, not to the extent it deserves, syndicates can’t be allowed to cheat the vehicle owners otherwise. It looks strange how it continues so long.