500-ft tunnel dug to pilfer IOC refinery oil

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Begumpur (Panipat/Karnal), Aug 4

Unidentified pilferers allegedly dug a 500-foot tunnel in Begumpur village near here to steal oil from the Mathura-Delhi-Ambala-Jalandhar pipeline of the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL). The theft was detected by the Panipat Refinery and Petrochemical Complex authorities of the IOCL today.

The IOC authorities are yet to ascertain the loss and the time since the pilferage was on. Superintendent of Police, Karnal, Pankaj Nain said a case against unknown persons has been registered under the Petroleum Act and the IPC. The investigation was on and the culprits would be traced soon, he said. “It is a very audacious and dangerous act and could have led to a major disaster,” he said.

IOC officials said the thieves reportedly installed a valve on the main pipeline and withdrew oil using a pipe that ran through the tunnel. The passage opened in a tandoor at a dhaba. As the pipeline ran around 10 feet underground, it was difficult for the authorities to detect the spot. Refinery officials are repairing the pipeline.

The refinery authorities had been noticing fluctuation in oil pressure for the past several days. They used ‘intelligent pigging’ (technical term for pipeline inspection) to identify the exact spot, according to N Shiva Kumar, chief manager, corporate communications, Panipat refinery.

The tunnel was detected when the land was dug up with a JCB. Shiva Kumar said the 214-km-long and 14-inch wide Delhi-Ambala pipeline transports 3.5 million tonne oil every year from the Panipat refinery.