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New ammo to fight fuel adulteration
Published on Tue, Oct 03, 2006 at 22:17, Updated on Wed, Oct 04, 2006 at 08:12 in India section
Tags: Oil Ministry, Fuel Adulteriation , New Delhi
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New Delhi: The move came a day after Gandhi Jayanti. But Gandhi would be pleased with the Petroleum Ministry getting into Gandhigiri mode.
The Petroleum Minister has found a new ammunition to fight fuel adulteration.
As an adulterant, kerosene is perhaps the single biggest corrupter of morals and the environment.
Oil companies are said to lose at least Rs 5,000 crore annually from petrol and diesel spiked with subsidised kerosene. The illicit money has its own noxious effect on society.
The cocktail burns badly, damaging engines, polluting the air and burning a hole in Government revenues, through lost taxes and a big subsidy bill.
That could change when Petroleum Minister launches kerosene injected with a chemical in Delhi on Wednesday.
The anti-adulterant is a patented product developed by a US-based company called Authentix, a leader in fuel authentication. It cannot be erased chemically and can be detected with a special kit in concentrations as low as five per cent.
This is not the first attempt at preventing kerosene adulteration though. The previous government had introduced the practice of injecting subsisided kerosene with a blue dye.
But it was not effective because the dye could be scrubbed with a chemical and was not detectible when the volume of kerosene in petrol and diesel was less than 10 per cent.
With high auto fuel prices, adulteration happens at the retail level. But much of it is a result of collusion between oil company officers and dealers.
As much as 40 per cent of kerosene is said to be diverted for this purpose.
Now, if the Petroleum Ministry succeeds in its second attempt at checking this menace, this could be its single biggest initiative to drill out corruption.
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