Lucknow petrol stations go on strike against police raids

Several gas stations in Lucknow yesterday went on a flash strike against police raids, causing inconvenience to commuters. The strike was later called off.Earlier the police raided several petrol stations during which they busted a major racket in which the operators were caught using cheat devices that dispense less fuel than displayed.The racket involved the use of chips and remote controls.After the sudden shutdown yesterday, the District Magistrate called a meeting with the pump owners, following which the strike was called off.The shutdown triggered rush at the handful of outlets, mostly owned by government oil companies, yesterday morning.Officials warned of strict action against dealers if they continued to strike for “an irrelevant cause”.The authorities promised there would be no victimisation.Uttar Pradesh government spokesman and Health Minister Siddharthanath Singh, however, ruled out any laxity in action against the petrol station owners involved in the racket.He said the government would not succumb to any pressure.“Let me make it very clear that there will be no letup in the checking of petrol pumps. The raids will continue but we can assure that no innocent person will be harassed,” he said.The petrol pump owners said if any machine was found compromised, that alone should be sealed and not the entire station.The Lucknow Petroleum Products Dealers Association, which announced the closure of businesses on Monday, has asked the government to announce an “amnesty” period for cheating operators to come clean, “having realised their mistake”.“Dealers are not on strike but the staff at petrol pumps are feeling scared to work. We are in a fix because of that, and if employees don’t turn up fearing action from STF (special task force), then it will be difficult for us to run the petrol pumps”, association’s secretary Sudhir Bora said.It was also agreed that a magistrate would come along during the surprise checks.In Lucknow alone, over two dozen petrol pumps were sealed earlier after the fuel filling machines were found compromised. At least 20 people, including managers, pump owners, staff and electricians, were arrested.Federal Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has ordered an audit of petrol pumps across Uttar Pradesh and also other states to check similar illegal practices.Of the 152 pumps in the state capital, only four – the ones owned by the fuel companies directly – and a few private ones were open yesterday morning. There were fears that the shutdown would extend to the rest of the state.