Petroleum dealers in AP call off strike move

They were to protest against against a slew of raids by the state legal metrology department

After threatening to go on an indefinite strike against a slew of raids by the state legal metrology department, the Andhra Pradesh Federation of Petroleum Traders has decided to drop the move.

In a written note to the department, the 3,500-strong petrol dealers’ federation today agreed to replace the contentious fuel dispensing units with the department-backed models.

The federation in a release submitted to state controller S Gopal Reddy sought 2-3 months to replace the models in consultation with the oil marketing companies. The dealers had downed shutters from Sunday till today noon protesting the move.

However, Reddy said the department would not refrain from booking fresh cases in accordance with the Legal Metrology Act (Section 22) against owners, who continue to use the un-approved Tatsumo and Dresser Wayne dispension models backed by remote devices, which are sourced from Japan and Brazil, China respectively.

The department said the models were illegal. “In the past, we have raised the proliferation of such models with the ministry of oil and natural resources,” said Reddy.

It estimated dealers were making an illegal Rs 300-crore every year in the state by resorting to these practices. The department through its latest field standard test measures for 10 litre found them siphoning 10-20 ml fuel. It can be manipulated to cover 50 ml in some cases, it added.

Till today, it has booked 86 cases in the state, including 21 in Hyderabad and the Rangareddy region.  It had seized nozzles of 519 dispensing units across the state.

Reddy said the department would hold consultations with oil marketing companies in a day or two seeking explanation on the proliferation of unapproved models in their operations. It spotted serious violations in these remote devices after it arrested a petroleum dealer in Cyberabad who was using smart chips to manipulate retail fuel readings in January.

With a workforce of just 500, as against an optimum strength of 5,000, the department of legal metrology is finding it difficult to supervise widespread violations in the state, Reddy said.