RECOMMENDATIONS

13.0 RECOMMENDATIONS

Bringing down the price differential between adulterants and base fuel products appears to be an effective step in discouraging this practice, but it may not be possible to increase the prices of products like kerosene, etc which caters to poor people. There exist various technical measures are available to tackle this problem but those measures give benefit only when backed up by very good system of monitoring and surveillance. Moreover, petroleum products being complex hydrocarbon mixtures with batch-to-batch variations, certain inevitable mixing between different batches in transit and in storage, availability of wide variety of adulterants, the detection methods may not be easy. Nevertheless conscious & systematic efforts can reduce adulteration to a great extent. Some of the possible measures are enlisted as follows

» Responsibility: The oil companies should be legally responsible for the failure of any product fully meeting the required specifications or detection of any admixture of low duty product, byproducts or waste products in the outlet of the company carrying the banner of the company. Any fault by the transporter or the dealer will be still within the jurisdiction of the Oil Company.

» Oil Company's role: Responsibility for dispensing the right quality of fuels should be made obligatory to oil companies. Being in their jurisdiction, the oil companies should be required to closely examine the transport and retailer facilities and conduct appropriate checks to control and prevent adulteration.

» By-product Outlet: Refiners and Petrochemical complexes should not be allowed to sell any byproduct or intermediate product to the market but only to a refinery for further processing into specification products. Products like slack wax, tank sludge should also be considered for refinery processing.

» By-product Disposal Follow-up: If any byproducts are sold out or the final disposal of byproducts from chemical processing, solvent preparation, solvent regeneration units, etc. need to be transparent and the disposal and ultimate usage pattern need to be verified at regular intervals.

» Passport for Transport Fuel Batches: Transport fuels should have passport containing principal characteristics, which the batch will carry till the retail outlets. This will help in identification of adulterants at the outlets. Appropriate analytical methods for this need to be established. Moreover, there should be expansion of the tank lorry locking system introduced in metros to other cities.

» Legal Framework: There is further need to develop legally binding and legally enforceable penalty system. Penalty system should be severe and imposed upstream. In case of an abuse in fuel market the penalty should be imposed on all concerned along the supply chain-the company, transporters and dealers and the actions taken should be exemplary to discourage adulteration practice.

» Sample Collection & Analysis: A legally acceptable system of sample collection and analysis in accredited laboratories of selected parameters and full specification testing needs to be worked out and implemented.

» Independent Sample Testing: Setting up of an independent anti-adulteration cell and the joint inspection approach put in place in NCT of Delhi under the directions of the Supreme Court brought about improvement in fuel quality. Inspections by joint teams of anti-adulteration cell, state civil supplies and state pollution control boards officials in polluted cities should be taken up.

» Surprise Checking: Rigorous surprise checking of samples from pumps should be carried out independently and in case of non-compliance; the responsible oil company may be named and highlighted in medias. This will compel the oil companies to protect their brand image and ultimately mount pressure on the oil companies to be effectively vigilant about the quality of fuels sold in their retail outlets.

» Compliance Certification/Awards: A system of monitoring and award for the fuel stations may be initiated in the cities. Bodies like Central Pollution Control Board can undertake monitoring of samples from various outlets and award compliance certificate to the stations. Upon non-compliance of samples the respective fuel station may be stripped off its compliance certificate. This when practiced would motivate the petrol pump owners for good & quality conscious business.

» Markers: Special marker systems are now available in International Markets and some pilot projects on markers are also going on in India. These markers may be adopted for detecting adulteration.

» Research & Development: R&D organization should be directed to conduct studies to assess the impact of adulteration on quantum & toxicity of emissions and results of such studies can be useful in creating public awareness.

» Good Business Practices: Voluntary initiatives of the oil companies like ' Pure for Sure" as initiated by BPCL needs to be encouraged by the Government.

» Awareness: Consumer organizations at city/town level with necessary support of concerned authorities can serve as watchdog to check adulteration.