Fuel duel: Govt steps on the gas

if fuel is the driving force behind this city on the move, adulteration seems to have driven delhi up the wall. simply put, it's more than just petrol and diesel which is powering the capital forward -- there's kerosene, naphtha and a host of other contaminants. and this, as we all know, isn't what the city's hearts and engines ordered. with the capital flooded with complaints on the quality of the petrol and diesel being sold at service stations across the city, the city sarkar has constituted a panel of experts to monitor the sale of fuel.the panel, comprising scientists, environmentalists and experts from the transport sector, will keep tabs on the quality of fuel being supplied at service stations and furnish monthly assessment reports to the transport and environment departments of the city government. side by side, a state-of-the-art laboratory for testing fuel samples is reportedly in the pipeline. elaborates a senior official of the dikshit administration, ``pollution might have been dealt a hard blow following the decision to relocate certain industrial units outside the city and introduce cng-driven buses, but adulterated petrol is still a cause for concern. while government officials have been constantly monitoring the purity of petrol and diesel sold at service stations across the city, the screening process will be conducted on a daily basis from now on.'' based on the reports of the panel, the government will initiate action against service stations supplying adulterated fuel. ``while first-time offenders will see their units being sealed for a stipulated period, the duration of the forced closure will increase with each subsequent offence. the delhi government will also get in touch with the union petroleum ministry to cancel the licences of service stations which are found to be flouting fuel-quality norms repeatedly. this will make service stations more accountable,'' informs a senior official in the environment department. for the record, vehicular exhaust accounts for more than 80 per cent of the total pollution throttling the city. adulterated fuel, in turn, makes a big contribution to fanning the fumes of pollution. ``with vehicular exhaust breathing a high content of lead into the environment, smog has become an integral part of delhi's winters,'' adds the environment department official. incidentally, adulteration hasn't stopped at playing foul with petrol and diesel --it has also diluted the intention with which the city government introduced unleaded fuel. ``the need to filter out adulteration has become all the more important because even unleaded fuel is being sullied by contaminants. with kerosene and naphtha in the picture, the very purpose of introducing unleaded fuel has been defeated,'' elaborates a senior official of the delhi government. adds a transport department official, ``apart from service stations, fuel samples will also be lifted from tankers entering the city. with reports of transporters indulging in adulteration having come to our notice, the city police propose to keep a strict vigil on the movements of these tankers.'' for a city which is second only to calcutta in the vehicular pollution hall of shame, delhi would do well to clean out those who are playing dirty with the city's driving force. and with the city sarkar applying the brakes, it might not be too long before delhi's levers, and lungs, breathe easy.