shariq's blog: Blogger: User Profile: shariq012

Illegal sale of Army fuel continues
Shariq Majeed
Tribune News Service

Rajouri, May 1
The Army authorities may term this as an absurd allegation, but the illegal sale of fuel, both petrol and diesel meant for running Army vehicles, is going on openly in this garrison town and its outskirts.

According to sources, some armymen are selling the fuel and this illegal sale is going on in Kallar, Chingus, Thandi Kassi, Darhal and Bhimber Gali areas. The illegal sale is being done through some selective shopkeepers, they added. They said even the private vehicle owners didn’t hesitate in buying Army fuel, which cost them much lesser than the market rates.

“Whereas the market rate of a litre of petrol is about Rs 47, the petrol for the purpose of Army vehicles is being sold to the selected shopkeepers at Rs 40, who then sell it to the private vehicle owners at around Rs 42. Similarly diesel is being sold to these shopkeepers at Rs 25 as compared to the market rate of Rs 32. These shopkeepers then sell this diesel at around Rs 28,” a reliable source said.

“The modus operandi is that some armymen mostly drivers come along with 20-50 litre canes filled with fuel and drop these at some selected shopkeepers who are associated with illegal sale of fuel. These armymen later return in a day or two for payment,” sources added.

“Since we are earning good money out of the sale of Army fuel, the source of fuel hardly matters,” said a shopkeeper in Bhimber Gali area, located just close to Bhimber Gali brigade headquarter.

Police sources said the police on many occasions has recovered army fuel from private shopkeepers. “On May 25 last year, the police seized 150 litre of Army diesel from a shop in Ghambir Brahamana area. The shop owner had managed to get the diesel from the Army at throwaway prices and was selling it in open market,” the police sources said.

Earlier, on March 26 in the same year, the police recovered 300 litre of diesel from a house in Kaller village here and had arrested two persons selling Army fuel. The police sources said during investigations, the accused had divulged the names of Army units from where they had purchased the fuel.

Jammu-based defence spokesman Lt-Col S.D. Goswami termed the reports of illegal sale of Army fuel by some armymen in this frontier district as “baseless.” “Nothing has come to our knowledge,” the spokesman said.