Nagaland is a repository of some of the worst-kept non-secrets. Just the other day, one such non-secret was out when members of Against Corruption and Unabated Taxation (ACAUT) raided fuel adulteration units at various locations between Gorapatti, near Nagaland Gate and 7th Mile, Chumukedima. Even as the results of these simultaneous raids were published by the local newspapers, yet it came as no surprise because everyone knew what was going on. For years.
But just because such kind of news does not shock us anymore, does not mean that we are not appalled by it. While it is best left for the district administration and the police to investigate the case, the scale at which this “business” has been operating – even at face value – appears to be gargantuan. In a written representation to the Dimapur police on Wednesday, ACAUT has informed that 19 oil-tankers of various make, with minimum 12,000 litres capacity, fully loaded with SK Oil or kerosene were found inside the 6 adulteration units. In open market rate, according to ACAUT, the cost of the seized SK Oil comes to around Rs. 2 crore.
So from where did these 19 oil-tankers filled with SK Oil come from? It is not without purpose that the ACAUT members chose to conduct the raid on the same day when the chief minister was scheduled to launch the Food Security Act at Dimapur. The message was clear – your smokescreens no longer work on us. In the representation to the Dimapur police, ACAUT has demanded that the seized kerosene oil be distributed to the beneficiaries, in all the districts.
Notwithstanding its environmental challenges, kerosene is used by people of moderate and low income as fuel for heating, lighting and cooking purposes. Hence after subsidy, it becomes significantly cheaper than petroleum oil. It is this price difference which is the main reason behind one of the most common forms of fuel adulteration across the world – mixing kerosene with petroleum oil. It is dangerous to fuel users, it not only affects vehicle life but also threatens the life of the person using the vehicle. Those engaging in this vice show a level of unscrupulousness that is plain criminal.
As rightly pointed out by ACAUT, the disappearance of such an amount of kerosene cannot go unnoticed b y the officials of the department of Food and Supplies. Imagine kerosene oil worth Rs 2 crore, all meant for the poor. Now deprived, simply because the rich wanted to get richer. And in these businesses, it hardly needs pointing out, you don’t get rich without building nexuses.
Deprive the poor of their supplies, and then use it to swindle those who can afford to use a car or any other appliances that run on petroleum oil. And to think that we have allowed it to happen for all these years, which brings us to the police and the administration, again. Because, in the first place, ACAUT should not have raided these places. The district administration and the police should have. It is their job 24x7, and all through the year.
That is why their assertion that these adulteration units continue to operate despite raids conducted earlier is no justification. As long as these units continue to operate, it is their duty to see that it is not so. Even if it means every single day. What ACAUT did was praiseworthy but to put it bluntly, they were doing someone else’s job.
