Adulterated fuel oils and economic losses
Friday, 27 July 2007
Shamim Ahmed
CONSUMERS complain often about the lack of purity of the diesel, octane, petrol and kerosene which they consume. Owners of motorised vehicles often have to send their transports to repairing garages where engine dysfunctions are explained as owing to use of adulterated fuel. It was not estimated to what extent economic losses are borne at both private and national levels from such fuel adulteration but the same would surely be high. Engines of vehicles eroding or their operational life getting shortened from repeated use of such substandard fuel, expenditures on repairs and losses on account of poor functioning of the vehicles or their idle conditions while undergoing repairs, all of these add up to vast amounts of losses. This is very regrettable for a country like Bangladesh that should be cutting any form of economic losses to the bare bone.
Meter tampering and other sleight of hand operations ensure that as the tanks of the transports are filled, some quantities are actually not put into the tanks but retained. The retained oil is later sold in the black market by the corrupt filling station operators. In the black market, the stolen oil is further adulterated for profits, for example mixing kerosene with diesel or petrol with octane and then supplied to consumers that lead to worse damage for engines of not only vehicles but also of irrigation pumps and other equipment which use such seriously adulterated fuel oils.
The chain of crimes associated with the distribution of fuel oils is indeed a long and varying one with negative repercussions throughout the economy. It is imperative to extensively and thoroughly investigate these crimes, specially at their sources, and put an end to them at the fastest. The drive against adulteration of consumer goods is being conducted by the caretaker government. This drive needs to be focused particularly on fuel oil adulteration which is posing as a more and more dangerous issue.
CONSUMERS complain often about the lack of purity of the diesel, octane, petrol and kerosene which they consume. Owners of motorised vehicles often have to send their transports to repairing garages where engine dysfunctions are explained as owing to use of adulterated fuel. It was not estimated to what extent economic losses are borne at both private and national levels from such fuel adulteration but the same would surely be high. Engines of vehicles eroding or their operational life getting shortened from repeated use of such substandard fuel, expenditures on repairs and losses on account of poor functioning of the vehicles or their idle conditions while undergoing repairs, all of these add up to vast amounts of losses. This is very regrettable for a country like Bangladesh that should be cutting any form of economic losses to the bare bone.
Meter tampering and other sleight of hand operations ensure that as the tanks of the transports are filled, some quantities are actually not put into the tanks but retained. The retained oil is later sold in the black market by the corrupt filling station operators. In the black market, the stolen oil is further adulterated for profits, for example mixing kerosene with diesel or petrol with octane and then supplied to consumers that lead to worse damage for engines of not only vehicles but also of irrigation pumps and other equipment which use such seriously adulterated fuel oils.
The chain of crimes associated with the distribution of fuel oils is indeed a long and varying one with negative repercussions throughout the economy. It is imperative to extensively and thoroughly investigate these crimes, specially at their sources, and put an end to them at the fastest. The drive against adulteration of consumer goods is being conducted by the caretaker government. This drive needs to be focused particularly on fuel oil adulteration which is posing as a more and more dangerous issue.