Question : Adulteration in Petrol

(a) whether it is a fact that there are some reports of adulteration in petrol in rural areas of the country;
(b) whether such adulteration in petrol and diesel is main cause for vehicle pollution in the country;
(c) the steps taken by the Government to check adulteration in petrol and diesel;
(d) the number of petrol and diesel filling stations seized or sealed for supplying adulterated fuel in the entire country, public sector oil company-wise;
(e) the number of such sealed filling stations reopened on COCO basis, Oil company/State-wise; and
(f) the reasons for opening new outlets and reopening seized ones under COCO scheme even though it is financially unviable to the oil companies?

MINISTER OF PETROLEUM & NATURAL GAS (SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)

(a) to (c) Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) informed that they have a system of monitoring and surveillance for checking adulteration. Important initiatives taken by OMCs in this regard include:-
(i) Making available Filter Paper, Calibrated Density Equipment (Hydrometer/Thermometer) & 5 Liter Calibrated Measure at the Retail Outlets for checking quality & quantity of MS/HSD.
(ii) Conducting Regular / Surprise inspections at Retail Outlets by OMC Field Officers/ Senior Officers/Mobile labs throughout the country. In case of irregularities, action is taken as per the MDG and dealership agreement.
(iii) Creation of a separate Quality Assurance Cell (QAC) for carrying out inspections.
(iv) Drawing of samples from petrol pumps at random and sending for testing to authorized laboratories.
(v) Sealing of tankers before leaving company premises to protect against pilferage/adulteration en-route.
(vi) Installation of GPS to monitor movement of Tank Trucks carrying MS / HSD.
(vii) Conducting Third Party Audit of Retail Outlets by OMCs for effective monitoring and benchmarking.
(viii) Automation of Retail Outlets by OMCs which enable the real-time capture of sales transaction and monitoring of tank stocks and receipts.
(d) to (e) The oil company/state-wise details of retail outlets terminated on established cases of adulteration during the period 2017-18 to Dec 2020 and operated as temporary COCO outlets, are Annexed.
(f) Expansion of retail outlet network is a continuous process undertaken by Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) in tandem with the growth in demand of Petrol and Diesel, based on feasibility study and commercial considerations. The terminated retail outlets are operated as temporary COCO retail outlets to utilize the idling valuable assets.
*****