Filling station owner gets stay order

Rachna Khaira

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, April 21

There seems to be no end to the controversy surrounding the Basti Bawa Khel filling station situated on the NH-703A.

After the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) cancelled its NOC recently for flouting mandatory norms, the pump owner has now managed to get a stay against the order from the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

However, even before the District Administration could act upon the stay granted by the court and reissues a fresh NOC and the oil company resumes it supply to the outlet; the pump was found to be operational on Thursday.

Proprietor Pradeep Aggarwal said when he approached the district administration authorities recently to seek permission for opening the outlet, he was informed that no separate permission was required for the same and he can run the filling station from the same location.

“I was not asked to apply for a fresh NOC and told to run it from the same location,” claimed Aggarwal.

Also when asked about the availability of fuel at his outlet even though the Oil company has ceased the supply from the last few days, Aggarwal claimed that he had adequate fuel reserve in the tank from the last supply given by the oil company on April 15.

However, levying serious charges against the dealer, Gurmeet Monty Sehgal, Spokesperson, Petrol Pump dealers Association, Punjab, claimed gross violation of market discipline guidelines laid down by the Ministry of petroleum and Natural Gas. He has accused the owner of selling spurious oil at his outlet.

“How is the outlet running without any NOC issued by the district administration? The owner is selling spurious product to the consumers and the authorities should seal the pump immediately,” alleged Sehgal. He also demanded the testing of oil being sold at the outlet presently. While Deputy Commissioner KK Yadav was not available for comments, District Controller of Food and Civil Supplies Narinder Singh claimed ignorance into the case.