Your neighbourhood petrol pump may be deploying some smart tactics to fleece you of your hard-earned money, recent developments suggest. Surprise raids at several petrol pumps in Lucknow on Thursday revealed a hi-tech mechanism that petrol pumps were using to fleece customers of fuel they were paying for - eventually resulting in a potential windfall of Rs 25 lakh for a single petrol pump annually.
The raids, conducted by the Special Task Force (STP) of Uttar Pradesh Police to check fuel theft, revealed that at least 7 of the 10 raided petrol pumps were using remote controlled electronic chips in the nozzles to dispense lesser fuel than what was actually being displayed.
According to the STF, around 90 per cent petrol pumps in the capital are involved in this illegal activity and use this very mechanism to fool customers. Amit Pathak, SSP, STF, said that the department was continuously receiving complaints from people about fuel theft by several petrol pumps in the city.
Acting on the complaints, Pathak said, the STF nabbed a person of a gang from Gujarat who revealed that ‘cheating’ chips are inserted smartly in the fuel vending machines that dispenses 900 ml instead of 1000 ml.
With this tactic, he said, petrol pumps owners were easily making Rs 4 to 5 on every litre and around Rs 50,000 daily. He informed that the display meter, however, will flash that a litre fuel was filled in the tank.
The licence of such petrol pumps will be annulled, he said.
The raids were conducted at 10 petrol pumps including at Sitapur Road, Chowk, Cantonment, Chinhat at Kamta crossing, Samta Mulak crossing in Gomtinagar and KGMU.
Pathak further said that the STF had specific information that members of a gang, based in Gujarat, were active in the city from last few days and that there work was to persuade the pump owners to install the ‘cheating’ chip in vending machines and share the profit.
The ‘cheating’ chip is controlled by remote, he said, adding that each pump owners were making around Rs 1.60 lakh monthly.
