Jajpur: National Highway-53 that crosses through Jajpur district has turned out to be a hub for illegal transportation and black marketing of furnace oil, petrol and diesel, reports said.
Making things worse, the police personnel responsible for patrolling and raids here are allegedly hand in glove with the illegal operators. The persons who operate these depots are informed ahead of the raids.
So, they have ample opportunities to shift the furnace oil in containers to safer places. In return, the police, mostly from Jajpur, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts, allegedly get a hefty cut.
This has become a source of earning for both the cops and other people involved. According to sources, NH-53 connects Jajpur’s Kalinganagar.
Hundreds of tankers transport spurious furnace oil on NH-53 from Paradip area to different places in Odisha like Kalinganagar, Keonjhar, Rourkela, Angul and Jharsuguda via Jajpur.
According to the source, furnace oil is being adulterated at PPL Road, Bauria Palanda, Balijhara and Kali temple locality, which are located within 5 km radius of the port and under Paradip police limits.
Sources said that traders involved in smuggling of furnace oil are earning handsome amounts. The total turnover of this trade is over Rs 1 crore per month, they pointed out.
They also said these traders work in collusion with some police officials. At times, they do conduct raids on the oil depots. However, the raids are nothing but eyewash for public.
The valuable furnace oil is transported by tankers from IOCL oil refinery in Paradip to different industrial units in the state.
These tankers are often halted midway. Gallons of pure furnace oil are removed from the tankers and in turn filled with oil-like substitutes.
The stolen furnace oil is then loaded into tankers previously parked by the illegal traders along the highway. The tankers are then sent to different locations.
The sources said that each tanker carrying furnace oil fetches approximately Rs 10 lakh in the open market.
PNN
