LUCKNOW: After being caught red-handed while fleecing customers and then proceeding on a flash strike past Monday midnight, fuel pump dealers in Uttar Pradesh ended their stir on Tuesday after the intervention of the State government.
So far, 26 people, including owners of five petrol pumps, have been arrested since April 27.
The State government, in a stern move, has set up a team of senior officials to undertake extensive checking of petrol pumps across the State to stop short measuring. Also, an Indian Oil manager was suspended on Tuesday for allegedly helping one of the staffers in a petrol pump tamper with the dispensing machine. Issuing the orders, the chief secretary said a team of officials was given the mandate to check all the 6,600 petrol pumps across the State and take action against those found guilty of duping customers.
The DMs of the districts concerned have been directed to send a detailed report over the functioning of the fuel pumps on a daily basis. The team set up by the chief secretary will include the executive magistrate, district supply officer, police officers, inspector of weight and measures department, senior officials of the oil companies along with technical staff. The dispensing machine, if found fitted with the chip, would be sealed and a report would be sent to the Additional District Magistrate (ADM, Food and Civil Supplies) for further action.
Earlier, the petrol pump owners had decided to proceed on a strike after state-wide raids on fuel stations to nab the fraudsters. Following this, there were huge crowds at petrol pumps on?Tuesday morning. In the meantime, a delegation of Lucknow Petroleum Products Dealers Association met the officials concerned to seek an amnesty period for course correction. The officials warned them of strict action if they continued with their unreasonable protest.
The UP STF busted the racket whereby fraudsters were caught manipulating the volume of fuel by fixing dispensing machines.