Bhubaneswar: Following a widespread resentment over allegations of adulteration of fuel in a petrol pump near Baramunda in the smart city, the Khandagiri Police on Thursday sealed the pump with immediate effect.
As per reports, the filling station named ‘Highway Service Centre’ located at Baramunda was operating with a license from Hindustan Petroleum (HP). Following the reports of adulteration, scientific teams from Khurda forensic laboratory and HP have visited the filling station and collected samples from six underground fuel tanks.
HP’s Area in-Charge, Subhabrat Khan, who was at the spot with the scientific team said that, “This is a company owned outlet and it is completely automated. There is absolutely no chance to tamper here.”
“I think there is some technical problem. We are collecting the sample right now. I can speak about the actual problem only after the report comes from the laboratory,” Khan added.
“As far as adulteration is concerned, we checked the automation system and could not find more than 1 Litre of water, which is pretty negligible for a tank of 16 KLs of fuel,” said Khan.
However, if we find that the dealer here has actually tampered with the system in some way and adulterated the fuel, then we will certainly revoke his license,” Khan said.
Earlier on Wednesday, several customers gathered at the petrol pump ‘Highway Service Centre’ located in Baramunda area and alleged that the petrol dispensed from the machine contained water. The protestors extracted petrol from the fuel tanks of their bikes in plastic bottles to prove their claims.
