From getting taxpayers to pay a higher price for kerosene—rather than all “above poverty line” customers as proposed by the Petroleum Ministry—to streamlining monitoring of petrol pumps and setting up sample-testing labs: the states today began a dialogue with the Centre that is expected to chart the roadmap towards curbing kerosene adulteration in diesel.At a special meeting of state Food and Civil Supplies Secretaries, chaired by Petroleum Secretary S C Tripathi—and called as a response to the killing of IOC officer S Manjunath who blew the whistle on adulteration in petrol pumps—almost half of the states said their governments were opposed to dual pricing of kerosene.The Petroleum Ministry has suggested that kerosene be priced differently for people living below the poverty line (BPL), at Rs 10/litre, and Rs 20/litre for those above it.This, the Ministry says, will curb adulteration which is rampant today mainly because of the almost Rs 24-price differential between kerosene and diesel. Some states, such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Orissa, Kerala and Delhi, asked for time as their political leadership had not firmed up their view. But a majority like Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Jharkhand and Haryana opposed it citing their “high” BPL figures to argue that dual pricing would limit the volume available for distribution to the needy.One option suggested was that instead of settling for a BPL/APL divide which was too rigid given that many consumers barely cross the BPL line, it was more “pragmatic” to start dual-pricing using income as a criterion. So kerosene should be high-priced for people paying income tax, was one idea from the states.On security to oil officers, all states were unanimous that security had to be provided but expressed helplessness in meeting individual requirements.The way out, the states said, was to identify “sensitive areas or compulsive” offenders. These areas, as well as those identified by a field officer, would be inspected by a team comprising officials of oil companies, food & civil supplies, police, and weights & measures departments.In order to keep the inspection a surprise, the field officer would be the only one to know the location of the selected petrol pump. The remaining members would be informed on way to the identified pump.Another suggestion was to keep a close watch on kerosene dealers since fair price shops—the final sale point in the public distribution system—were usually not diverting for adulteration because their stocks were too small for pump owners to go for largescale spiking.The states also want that they be allowed to set up sample testing labs since in almost 90 percent of inspections, labs run by the oil marketing companies had “failed” to detect adulteration, even a “deliberate adulteration” tried out by Maharashtra.
