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Fuel fraud: 76pc pump owners play it cool

Hasan Al Javed
16 Jul 2021 21:48:54 | Update: 16 Jul 2021 23:35:52
Fuel fraud: 76pc pump owners play it cool
Over the years, scores of refueling stations have devised ways to reduce the quantity of fuel dispensed. — The Business Post Photo/Rajib Dhar

Raisul Islam, a ridesharing driver of a motorcycle, usually travels about 45 kilometres per litre of octane, but sometime he makes it about 37 kilometres with the same amount of fuel.

The shortage of mileage per litre no doubt hits him hard as his hard-earned money is siphoned off through fuel fraud during refilling from petrol pump.

Like Raisul, hundreds of bikers in the capital fall victim to the forgery of filling stations across the capital which was detected by the Bangladesh Standard and Testing Institution (BSTI) during a recent raid.

Over the years, scores of petrol pumps have devised ways to reduce the quantity of fuel dispensed.

A BSTI drive against Santo Filling Station located at Matuail in Jatrabari on June 6 found that the pump authorities are involved in practices of under delivery. Some 720 milliliters of gasoline are not dispensed per 10 litre.

It was also found at three other dispensing units of this filling station that 430 to 550 milliliters of diesel are not given out per 10-litre diesel.

A mobile court of the government agency fined Tk2 lakh and asked the pump authorities to shunmeter tampering.

The victim, Raisul Islam, was present at the fuelstation while the BSTI action was underway against the forgery.

“I was taken aback to find myself cheated regularly by the filling station. I am a graduate searching for a job. This motor bike is now the only source of my earning,” he said.

A lion’s share of his income goes for fuel expense besides commission for ridesharing companies and maintenance, addedRaisul.

Quizzed about it, Santo Filling Station owner declined to make any comment on the scam.

From January 2020 to January 2021, the BSTI launched drive against 54 gasoline stations and found forgery in weight in 41 of them accounting for 76 per cent.

The BSTI fined Tk20,000 to Tk 2 lakhin terms of the magnitude of crime while it also lodged cases against scores of fuel filling station owners.

According to the BSTI and the Bangladesh Petrol Pump Owners Association,there are a total of 88 petrol stations in Dhaka.

AS Filling Station at Shewrapar in Mirpur tops the magnitude of forgery among the petrol pumps in the capital, finds the BSTI.

It became evident that the three fuel dispensing units of the petrol station have faulty machines designed to cheat at fuel delivery.

On average,760-millilitre less octane is delivered per 10 litre while 840-millilitreless diesel per 10 litre. The BSTIfiled a case against the pump owner.

Quizzed, AS Filling Station Manager Ashique Hasan Fahim said:“It is not long since I joined the work here. So, I cannot tell anything about the forgery. You can better talk to our boss.”

Several attempts were made to reach the filling station owner over cellphone, but to no avail.

Engineer Abdus Samad, deputy director of BSTI (Metrology),told The Business Post they are collecting information about which filling stations are involved in forgery in the capital and elsewhere.

“Our regular drive against unscrupulous petrol pump owners is underway. Besides, our mobile court will take action against them,” he said.

BSTI operates drive between 10am to 4pm on weekdays, but petrol pump authorities start their forgery through meter tempering from the evening through the whole night.

However, operators at several petrol pump dispensing units alleged that a number of metrological staff of BSTI take bribe regularly from some filling stations. Those who are reluctant to give the hush moneyface the raid.

Asking not to be named, an operator of a filling station at Jatrabari said stealing 3 to 9.50-litre fuel is possible form dispensing 100-litrefuel through key board tempering.

It is, however, an open secret that the pump owners stealgasoline in connivance with some rogue BSTI staff who take as bribe Tk500 to Tk1,000 from each fuel dispensing unit, he added.

Bangladesh Petrol Pump Owners Association president Md Nazmul Haque told The Business Post they cannot avoid liability that filling stations are continuously stealing and cheating consumers.

“It is true that if anyone gets chance to make an extra buck, why won’t theygo for itand whose task is it to watch out for?” he posed a question.

“We proposed the government for regular monitoring in this regard and take strict action against those involved in refilling scam, but our proposal went unheeded.”

A monitoring cell under the BSTI was formed in 2013 but it nipped in the bud.

In reply to a query aboutthe monitoring cell, some BSTI officials declined to make any comment. Askedabout the bribe allegations, they refused it outright.

Asked about different types of fuel fraud, Engineer Abdus Samad said BSTI is only capable of launching a drive against meter tampering.

There are types of fraud that fuel customers could subject to. Of them, Long Hose Trick, Diversionary Trick, Start-Stop Trick and Machine Tempering are mentionable.

Long Hose Trick: Of the fuel scams, long-hose trick is the one that shows some fuel as much as 100-150ml remain left in the long hose after filling a set quantity. Thus a considerable amount of fuel is siphoned off.

Diversionary Trick: This is done in a number of ways. One is while someone has asked for an amount of fuel to put into vehicles; their attention is distracted by some silly offers, car maintenance products, etc, and in the meantime, deception is committed.

Start-Stop Trick: In this trick, the fuel attendant willfully does not lock the hose nozzle during refueling. Every time he presses and releases the nozzle, some quantity of fuel is left inside the dispensing machine.

Machine Tampering: It is a more widespread trickery. In this fraud, an integrated chip is set up in the machine making sure that 3% less oil is filled every time but the meter suggests a full amount.

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