The business of adulteration in petroleum products has reached its peak, people’s valuable vehicles and motorcycles worth millions and billions of rupees have been sunk. Some people’s vehicle engines and others’ fuel filter plugs and other equipment have started to break down.
Petrol pump owners have put the responsibility on OGRA and oil companies, while motor mechanics have put the responsibility on those selling polluted petrol, but the public is being cheated on both sides. Adulterated petrol has also been poured and then millions of rupees have been spent on repairing vehicles.
According to the details, from food and drink items and medicines, now various chemicals, kerosene, and diesel have also started being mixed in petroleum products. Due to the pouring of adulterated petrol, the engines of more than 70,000 vehicles, trucks, vans, and more than 40,000 motorcycles have been destroyed in Lahore alone in a period of one to one and a half years.
More than 12,000 small and large workshops in Lahore have queues of cars, vans, trucks, motorcycle rickshaws, and other transport vehicles, which will be a source of income for motor mechanics, but due to adulterated petrol, motor mechanics are also worried because they repair cars, motorcycles, and rickshaws, which then break down and people come and fight in the workshops.
According to a mechanic at Lahore, due to adulterated petrol, sensors, heads, and plugs of imported vehicles, including the head, are damaged, the repair of which costs from 50,000 to 200,000, but the customer still comes and fights that you did not do the job properly and takes the money, while they are told that we did the job satisfactorily and put all the new things in front of you, but because the petrol is adulterated, they are damaged again.
The biggest problem with imported vehicles is that they have sensitive sensors and other electronic devices installed in it. As soon as adulterated petrol is used, it gets clogged and as soon as it gets clogged, the entire electronic system of the vehicle also gets blown, but the vehicle owners are not ready to accept this.
When we opened the oil filter of many vehicles and checked it, nothing came out except dirt. When we poured petrol into it, they said there was petrol, but black water came out, and at the same time, fine particles came out that destroyed the sensors and other vehicle equipment.
After all, who is adulterating petroleum products? When the Secretary General of the Petroleum Dealers Association, Khawaja Atif, was spoken to in this regard, he blamed the oil marketing companies.
He said that the oil marketing companies are the ones who are adulterating. Last month, a company’s ship arrived at Karachi Port, whose oil samples were taken by OGRA, but its samples failed, but the oil loaded on this ship was taken and cleared, while petrol pumps of various local and multinational companies on the motorway were also sealed because adulterated petrol was being sold there.
The Secretary-General said that representatives of petrol tanks of companies come to us, which are offloaded at our petrol pumps and they sell them. Due to adulteration of petroleum products, not only ordinary customers are facing problems, but also petrol pump owners are facing problems because people come and fight with them and we also suffer because our disposal pump breaks down, that is, the machinery through which petrol is poured also breaks down due to poor quality petrol and we also have to bear losses worth lakhs of rupees.
He said that more than 1,000 petrol disposable pumps broke down at various petrol pumps in Punjab including Lahore in the last one and a half years, the repair of which cost lakhs of rupees. OGRA is also not doing its job efficiently as it is the job of the district and provincial governments to stop the sale of adulterated petrol, but who is responsible for the oil tanker that was cleared after having polluted petrol, when its samples failed it was poor, so why was the oil in this company’s tanker allowed to enter the market, this tanker should have been returned, but this company got this tanker cleared with the connivance of OGRA. Now when the same oil comes into the market, people will sell it and the petrol pump owners will be in trouble.
Khawaja Atif said that we also do not want adulterated petrol to be sold from our petrol pumps because once the structure is damaged, then no one will fill petrol from the petrol pump. Yes, some petrol pumps fill less quantity. We are against it and are with the government in this matter. Action is taken against them, but action should also be taken against those who sell and order adulterated petrol. But OGRA is watching this game as a silent spectator. This is the job of OGRA, but OGRA officers, AC, and DC come in their vehicles, roll down the windows a little seal the petrol pumps, and leave.
He said that why the companies whose petrol pumps are or companies from which petrol is being purchased not checked, and why are their oil depots not raided, everyone is in collusion and the public as well as the petrol pump owners are being robbed. If we complain too much, the relevant companies whose petrol pumps are operating cancel their contracts, which causes us a loss of millions of rupees.
When OGRA was spoken to in this regard, its General Manager of Public Relations Imran Ghaznavi said that the quality of petroleum products is inspected regularly through the Hydrocarbon Development Institute of Pakistan, an institution approved by the Government of Pakistan. The inspection process is implemented on the entire delivery system of petroleum products, under which the quality of petroleum products is checked every month in the depots and refineries of OMCs before each shipment arriving at the ports is unloaded from the ship and on a sudden and unannounced basis at the outlets of authorized sellers of OMCs.
Moreover, as per OGRA’s instructions and Pakistan Oil Rules 2016, oil marketing companies are required to establish an effective and robust system of self-quality inspection. OMCs inspect their vendors’ outlets through their mobile units and take action against those who violate the quality standards. However, OGRA, being a regulator, also inspects various outlets to monitor the self-monitoring system of OMCs. Despite this, all OMCs are required to ensure the quality of petroleum products at their respective retail outlets across the country.
On the direction of the Ministry of Interior, a campaign was launched by OGRA in the financial year 2023-24 to check the quality of petroleum products at petrol pumps across the country. In this regard, a total fine of Rs. 28 lakh was imposed on petrol pumps supplying substandard fuel as per Pakistan Oil Rules 2016.
Moreover, under the provisions of the Pakistan Oil Rules, 2016, OGRA issues licenses only to oil marketing companies and not directly to petrol pumps. For the establishment of petrol pumps, a license in Form ‘K’ from the district administration and a license from the Explosives Department is required under Rule 115(3) of the Petroleum Rules, 1937.
It is important to mention that OMCs are bound by franchise agreements only with petrol pump dealers. Therefore, under the Petroleum Rules, 1937, the local district administration, Explosives Department or the police have the authority to seal petrol pumps. The Oil Marketing Company was contacted in this regard but did not respond.
