Jeypore: Jeypore Private Bus Owners Association has created a commotion when it alleged that most of the buses plying in undivided Koraput district are running on kerosene.
On the direction of the district Collector K Sudarshan Chakraborty, a team of Supply Department officials inspected six buses and found that kerosene was being used as fuel instead of diesel in a bus named ‘Mahavir’. The officials seized 20 litres of kerosene from the bus and registered a case under ESMA.
In another drive, three buses, three mini trucks and five trucks were checked at Dimiriput and 300 litres of kerosene was seized from a truck.
The earnestness with which inspections were carried out by the Supply Department has become a thing of the past now, allowing unscrupulous vehicle owners to use kerosene as fuel with impunity.
As the number of vehicles running on kerosene keeps increasing, they not only usurp the poor people’s quota, but also damage the environment and public health.
Hundreds of trucks and buses operating in the district have blatantly flouted the norms, it is alleged. District administration has done precious little to check use of kerosene in transport buses, it is alleged. Kerosene is an essential commodity for the poor. Its value is more in pockets where electricity is still a dream.
Pointing out that some bus owners buy kerosene from dealers as it is cheaper than diesel and use it in their vehicles, Private Bus Owners’ Association Secretary Durga Prasad Tripathy had written a letter to all the Collectors of undivided Koraput district.
Sources said there were five kerosene wholesalers in Koraput district, two in Malkangiri, three in Nabarangpur and three in Rayagada. There are 320 fair price shops in Koraput, 11 in Malkangiri, 157 in Nabarangpur and 232 shops in Rayagada.
There are 3,39,053 kerosene consumers in Koraput district, 1,45,156 in Malkangiri district, 2,96,965 in Nabarangpur district and 2,36,990 in Rayagada district.
A consumer gets 2.5 litres of kerosene a month. Taking the total number of consumers into account, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur and Rayagada districts get 847,633 litres, 362,890 litres, 742,413 litres and 592,475 litres respectively.
As kerosene is being sold at Rs 29 a litre to the poor it is being used in vehicles. Rampant black marketing of kerosene is also going on.
The fact that the Supply Department has no information about the number of vehicles seized during the last three years for using kerosene as fuel has surprised people here.
District Supply Officer Tularam Nayak said raids were being carried out regularly. “We take immediate action if there is a complaint that a consumer in a remote area has not been given his/her kerosene quota,” he added.
PNN
