NGRC-1CU wants government to start working
Dimapur, August 13 : The Nagaland Government Registered Class-1 Contractors’ Union (NGRC-1CU) has denounced the bail granted to the alleged kingpins of the scandal.
A point of concern that the union raised was that the Naga associates linked to the racket and even one local organization had refused to cooperate. The NGRC-1CU has held the department of Food & Civil Supplies and the “minister concern” solely responsible for the 'diversion of huge thousand and thousand litres of kerosene to black market for fuel adulteration purposes.'
The union issued a press release on Saturday demanding ‘cancellation’ of the bail, besides asking the Nagaland government to start working on its responsibilities when it comes to public amenities and citizens’ welfare.
The union informed to have sought information though the Right to Information (RTI) mechanism on August 9. The petition was submitted to the public information officer of the department of Food & Civil Supplies, the organization stated.
The press release stated: “The said RTI application demanded the documents of detailed records of allocation of ‘solvent chemical (used for adulterating liquor and fuel as appeared in local dailies) for the last 15 years such as the documents related to the allotment by the concerned ministry, government of India, as to how the state government obtained and its further allocation and for what purpose?”
The said RTI petition also demanded details related to the allocation of ‘kerosene’, how much of it was obtained from the central government, further allocation in the state, and details about district-wise allocation. The RTI further 'questioned as to whether there was any quota for the minister in concern or secretary or director in the allocation of kerosene. If not, why all allocation are not been distributed or allotted? Where do the rest go?'
The contractors also expressed strong opposition to the bail granted to the alleged kingpins charged with running the racket.
“NGRC-1 CU has strongly voiced (sic) against the granting of bail to the kingpin of the fuel adulterators and even the baiI already been granted be cancelled for the interest of public. The fuel adulteration racket is affecting every citizen and it also affects our economy in a huge manner…” the union stated.
For instance, the organization stated, a liter of fuel that is supposed to cover 16 kilometers hardly manages 10 kilometers ‘with adulteration.’ Adulterated fuel also cause much damage to vehicles ‘especially to the engine,’ the contractors explained.
The union expressed dejection at Naga persons who allegedly demonstrated apathy: “The contractors in the state were the most affected ones and the fuel adulteration caused loss to the society both rich and poor. Today the union cannot be tolerate this serious racket any further where the non-locals were the kingpin and several others were involved with them and the most interesting part was that, when the racket was detected the local owner who were (sic) allowing these (sic) kingpin to run their business all of a sudden denied that they do not have any association with them any longer.”
“It was very unfortunate that certain local organization raised (sic) non-operation towards the peaceful picketing of fuel outlets which is just to put up few banners without disturbing the normal business.”
The NGRC-1CU also questioned why the authorities conducted checks and testing only on a particular day; the authorities are supposed to conduct enforcement duties every now and then.
“No government agency is allowed to take any money from any fuel outlets or dealers. These kingpins are the ones who had corrupted the Naga people’s wealth and they can never be allowed to run any business in Nagaland especially fuel,” the NGRC-1CU stated.
“The department of Food & Civil Supplies and the minister concern is solely responsible for the diversion of huge thousands and thousand litres of kerosene to black market for fuel adulteration purposes including ‘solvent chemical’ which is used for both liquor and fuel adulterations. Fuel available in the state is much more than what had been allocated to the state by the government of India and this is all happening due to high rate of adulteration.”
Stating that the racket had been going on for the last several years, the NGRC-1CU took strong note that kerosene oil had been allocated to various agencies in the districts but were being utilized by ‘non-locals’ only.
“However, the entire kerosene allocation were run and utilized by non-locals only,” the union stated.
The NGRC-1 CU has appealed to all sections of the state to contribute and join in the fight against ‘this racket so as not to allow the same crime to happen again in our society.’
The NGRC-1 CU has also demanded that the Nagaland government ‘adopt the implementation of Direct Benefit Transfer in Kerosene (DBTK) in the state; reform the Kerosene Subsidy Regime, and bring an end to ‘this fuel adulteration racket’ in Nagaland.
Even the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas had admitted that there was evidence about ‘some parts of the kerosene allocation being diverted,’ the union observed.
“The demand for kerosene both for lighting and cooking purposes has (sic) considerably been reduced in the country. The success in direct transfer of the LPG subsidy to the consumers through the PAHAL scheme, gives an indication of the potential for use of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to ensure that genuine beneficiaries get the benefit of subsidy while preventing illicit diversion,” the NGRC-1CU added.
