20 petrol outlets sealed in Lucknow

Lucknow: After joint operations by the Special Task Force and Weights and Measures Department of Uttar Pradesh Government, 20 petrol pumps in the State capital have been sealed in the past one week for using rigged petrol and diesel dispensing machines. Of the sealed petrol outlets maximum are from Chowk area, followed by Indiranagar, Faizabad Road and Gomtinagar. There are a total of 186 petrol stations in the district and the STF started raid from April 27.

Long queues for fuel are a routine sight here since past one week after several petrol stations were closed in the city, with commuters now having to shell out extra time for what was earlier a five-minute task. Official sources here today said the sealed petrol stations have been granted licenses by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).

According to officials of oil companies, IOC has granted licenses to 94 petrol pumps in the district, BPCL to 39 stations and HPCL has granted 53 licenses. Of the sealed petrol pumps, 11 stations were licensed by IOC, seven possessed licenses from BPCL and two were granted licenses by HPCL. All petrol stations that were shut down had been verified and checked by these oil companies.

Earlier, police teams had found out that many petrol pumps had installed 'chips' to rig the amount of oil dispensed by machines. The most affected area in the state capital turned out to be Chowk, as out of four petrol pumps in the area, three have been closed. People living in Indiranagar, Gomtinagar and Daliganj said they had to leave their houses an hour earlier in order to get fuel from petrol pumps in other areas. However, many expressed satisfaction that the action would put a stop to the cheating. (UNI)