Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala government has ordered inspections at petrol outlets across four districts following reports that fuel is being sold with ethanol blended in excess of the prescribed limit.
Food and Civil Supplies Minister Anoop Jacob on Saturday directed the Commissioner of Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs to collect petrol samples from various locations and send them for testing.
The move follows the detection of alleged excess ethanol blending in neighbouring Karnataka.
The minister said no such instance had so far come to the notice of authorities in Kerala.
However, the government has decided to conduct inspections to ensure that similar malpractices do not take place in the state.
The directive was issued after discussions with Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan.
Samples will be collected from different locations in Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, Kozhikode and Kannur districts.
The exercise is intended to ascertain whether petrol sold at retail outlets conforms to the prescribed standards and whether the permitted ethanol blending limit is being exceeded.
The inspections will be carried out under the provisions of the Central Motor Spirit and High Speed Diesel (Regulation of Supply and Distribution and Prevention of Malpractices) Order, 2005.
Based on this central regulation, the state government issued a notification in 2014 authorising officials of the Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department to inspect fuel outlets and initiate legal action in cases of violations.
The powers have been vested in officials ranging from the Commissioner of Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs to Taluk Supply Officers.
This enables inspections to be conducted at different levels across the state.
The minister said stringent action would be taken if excess ethanol blending or any other form of adulteration was detected.
The inspections assume significance in the wake of reports from Karnataka, where excess ethanol blending has reportedly been detected.
The government wants to ensure that consumers in Kerala are not exposed to similar malpractices and that fuel sold in the state meets the prescribed quality standards.
No case of excess ethanol blending has been confirmed in Kerala so far.
–IANS
