91 Uttar Pradesh petrol pumps’ licences cancelled

NEW DELHI: State oil companies have cancelled the licences of 91 petrol pump dealers in Uttar Pradesh that had tampered with their dispensers to cheat fuel buyers.

Disciplinary action has also been taken against 10-15 company executives, though no one has been dismissed. A statewide inspection of all 6,000 pumps across UP by state officials and oil company executives began after malpractices were detected at seven pumps four months ago.

It revealed ‘critical irregularity’ at 91 pumps, where dealers had tinkered with equipment to dispense lower quantities of fuel to buyers, said an oil ministry official, adding that licences of all these pumps were cancelled after dealers failed to explain their conduct satisfactorily.

Indian Oil (IOC) owns 47 of the terminated dealerships, Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) has 27 and Bharat Petroleum (BPCL), 17. IOC alone operates about 3,400 pumps in the state while the balance filling stations are almost equally divided between BPCL and HPCL.

Across the country, the number of pumps run by state oil companies stands at about 54,000.