Jhapa, February 26

An investigation has been initiated after adulterated diesel was discovered in four tankers brought to Jhapa from the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) in Siliguri, India.

A high-level probe team formed by Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has started the investigation from today.

The team today inquired the employees and petroleum businessmen at the branch office of NOC at Charali, Mechinagar.

According to Bhim BK, head of Charali branch of NOC, it is suspected that 80,000 litres of diesel brought in the four tankers from Siliguri on February 22 were adulterated.

'The members of the investigation team from the central office are interrogating and looking into the matter,' he said.

Altogether 80,000 litres were brought in tanker numbers P1-01-00-1 Kha 3500 under the name of Navadurga Oil Stores, Me-1-Kha 2151 under the name of Mata Pathibhara Oil Stores, Na-7-Kha 1507 under the name of Uttarganga Transport Pvt Ltd and Na-7- Kha 6974 under the name of Rizal Oil Suppliers and Traders.

The oil corporation said that adulteration was found while checking the quality of diesel.

The tankers are currently parked in the branch office premises of the corporation at Charali. It is customary to send the petroleum products brought from India by tanker directly to the seller's petrol pump after checking the quality at the branch of the corporation.

The probe committee formed under the leadership of the Manager of the NOC's central office, Kamala Neupane, has started the investigation from today. The members of the investigation committee are Birendra Mishra, technical officer at NOC's Province 1 office at Biratnagar, and Shiva Hari Acharya, an officer working in the NOC's laboratory.

The price of kerosene in India is lower than in Nepal. Also, kerosene supplied in government quota is even cheaper. It is suspected that cheap kerosene from India may have been mixed in the diesel brought to Nepal.

India's Siliguri depot is 35 km away from Kakadvitta, the eastern border, while Charali depot is 15 km away. Only the NOC employees have the keys to the chambers of the tankers that are loaded with fuel installed in India.

The corporation's office at Charali measured the density of diesel in the tanker of Navadurga Oil Stores at 813 kg per cubic metre, while it had measured at 829 kg per cubic metre when it was loaded at Siliguri in India. The corporation only accepts fluctuations of up to two-and-a-half kilos per cubic metre.

After the diesel density of all the four tankers that arrived at Charali from Siliguri was much lower than the prescribed level, kerosene adulteration was suspected. The average density of kerosene is 790 kg per cubic metre.

A version of this article appears in the print on February 27, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.