Afroz Alam Sahil for BeyondHeadlines
Major oil companies are overcharging citizens on petrol purchase at their petrol pumps in Pune Cantonment Area, where no Local Body Tax (LBT) is levied.
The BeyondHeadlines team visited the city to explore and validate the claims after reading a news report in Indian Express, about No Local Body Tax (LBT) in the cantonment area.
When a petrol bill is taken from one of the stations in the cantonment area where petrol was purchased, it clearly showed same price as that’s charged in the Pune Corporation Area. How it can be same at both the places, as the corporation area levies LBT whereas the cantonment area does not.
The team contacted a senior gentleman (requested not to be named) who owns a petrol pump in the corporation area. He provided the team required information regarding the implementation and execution of LBT from petrol pump owners even before the product is sold from their pumps.
Despite being aware of the fact that the LBT not being levied in the cantonment area, the three major players Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum are involved in overcharging customers.
Our investigation into the matter revealed that these oil companies are over charging petrol by Rs. 2 and diesel by Rs. 1 per liter approximately.
The team strongly feels that this issue needs a detailed investigation as what the companies are indulging in is nothing but a criminal act amounting to Extortion, Cheating & Over Pricing of essential commodities.
What the companies are engaged is a non-bailable offence under the eyes of law taking into account the stringent provisions of the Essential Commodities Act.
The forceful collection of money amounts to extortion from the citizens which makes it imperative for the police to invoke strong sections (all Essential Commodities Act, sections related to Extortion and Over Charging).
In addition, our rough calculation show that these oil companies have illegally collected nearly Rs. 9 Crores from 1st April 2013 to till date, from citizens who purchased oil from their petrol pumps.
The team is putting efforts, for the sake of countrymen, to expose this large scale daylight robbery being carried out by white collar robbers without any fear of the law.
