Fuel adulteration largely goes undetected

new delhi: though adulteration of petrol and diesel might be a bigger menace than assumed, agencies involved in collection and testing fuel samples don't think so. at least, this is what the figures say. just look at this. there are over 700 petrol pumps in delhi. just about 30 samples of petrol and diesel are collected on an average in a month. ''the figures do speak of their incompetence. it shows the will of the food and civil supplies department in checking adulteration,'' says sunita narain, director of centre for science and environment. things get worse. ''only three per cent of samples tested in the fuel-testing laboratory do not adhere to the norms prescribed by the bureau of indian standards,'' says a k bhatnagar, director in indian oil corporation's research and development cell. which means, only one out of 30 samples does not adhere to the specifications. ''what can one expect from a laboratory which is managed by leading oil companies like, indian oil corporation,'' asks narain. a charge, countered by bhatnagar, who is the president of society for petroleum laboratories. ''we just coordinate the lab's activities. it is completely managed by scientists from the indian institute of petroleum (dehra dun).'' but when not one sample meets the bis specifications for ''unadulterated fuel'', out of 700 petrol pumps, the contrast becomes stark and alarming. even the single fuel testing lab was set up after the authorities dragged their feet for more than two years. ''the apex court had ordered the setting up of two such labs. in june last year, one of them was inaugurated. it only started functioning six months later, in november, 2000,'' says chandrachur ghosh from cse. says s a dutta, an environmental scientist with central pollution control board, ''there are no such tests which can check fuel adulteration in its totality. they only check whether they meet the bis specifications or not.'' ''if adulteration is done in small quantities, the tests for bis standards would not show it. adulteration up to 20 per cent, usually does not change the parameters beyond the bis specifications,'' ghosh says. thus, a moderately adulterated fuel can pass these tests. however bis, on the insistence of the union ministry of consumer affairs, has set up a technical panel to examine the possibility of ''other reliable methods'' to detect adulteration. ''evaluation of certain chemical and bio-markers which can detect adulteration is under process. using these markers, one can easily find out the level of adulteration on the basis of dilution in the fuels,'' says ioc's bhatnagar. environmentalists say that the adulterated diesel and petrol spew more poisonous smoke than its pure counterpart. ''highly adulterated fuel after combustion releases more particulate matter, which causes acute instances of respiratory ailments. and high benzene levels are also released to the atmosphere which are carcinogenic (cancer-causing) in nature,'' says ghosh from cse. adulterants like kerosene and naphtha are popular among transporters and petrol-pump owners as they mix easily with petrol and diesel.''they are also available at cheaper prices,'' says dutta from cpcb. priced at rs 7.57 per litre, kerosene is a transporter's delight. they mix the liquid with the diesel, which is priced at rs 17.06 per litre, in their buses. a transport department official, who was earlier associated with the civil supplies department, says: ''the percentage of kerosene that comes to the capital, being used as kerosene, is an abysmal 10 per cent. most of it is used to adulterate fuels.'' despite the union petroleum ministry passing a national solvent control order (aimed at removing the price difference between the adulterants and fuels), the adulteration of fuel still exists in the capital. ''it continues in most petrol pumps in the city. and the lobby wants to spike the conversion to cng as they cannot the adulterate the gas,'' ghose from cse says.