Sector 51 petrol pump sealed for short selling fuel, 11 arrested

NOIDA: A petrol pump in Sector 51 was sealed by the city magistrate on Wednesday for allegedly overcharging and short selling fuel. Officials said discrepancies

NOIDA: A petrol pump in Sector 51 was sealed by the city magistrate on Wednesday for allegedly overcharging and short selling fuel. Officials said discrepancies were allegedly also found in manually generated and computer-generated bills. Eleven persons, including two sales managers, were arrested.

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The raid was conducted by a team of officials, led by Noida city magistrate Shailendra Mishra. The operation was begun after the administration received complaints about anomalies in computer billing, fuel weighing machine and issuance of manual bills.

“After complaints, we laid a trap and our teams, consisting of inspector Virendra Kumar and district supply officer Ram Narayan Yadav, among others, reached the fuel station located in Sector 51. One person from the team asked for one litre of petrol, that costs ₹73. The fuel station attendant, however, charged ₹100 instead of ₹73, and the fuel released was also less than the quantity asked. When asked for a bill, they issued a slip of ₹379, which is illegal,” said Mishra.

The city magistrate waited at Morna village while the team started the operation. The fuel station is owned by a petroleum company and is operated under a ‘company-owned company-operated’ scheme. A private firm was operating this fuel station near the City Center Metro station.

“We have decided to write to the petroleum company for probe and necessary action against the operator. We have filed an FIR against the operator under IPC Section 420 for cheating consumers,” said Mishra.

Many consumers, who were present during the time of the operation, were shocked to learn that the operator was cheating them. After this station, the team also inspected another fuel station in Morna and found their measurements and record keeping appropriate.

“We have decided to conduct random checks at other fuel stations as well to determine whether fuel stations are following rules or not,” said Mishra.