Petrol pilferage sparks panic in Alto-Dabolim

VASCO, AUG 23
The oil pilferage racket busted at Alto-Dabolim on Monday is yet another grim reminder of various instances of oil adulteration rackets and illegal oil storage yards being exposed in the taluka.
Panic gripped residents of Alto-Dabolim on Monday after news spread that a pilferage tapping connection was found to the pipeline that supplies inflammable fuel, naphtha and petrol.
“We are lucky that an incident like the one at the IOC eight years ago did not occur with the pilferage at Alto-Dabolim,” said Umesh Patil of Alto Dabolim.
“If any negligence had to occur when oil was being siphoned off, it would have led to a major tragedy, as pipeline supplies highly combustible petroleum products like petrol and naphtha,” added Patil.
Patil recalled the blasts in port town due to the pilferage racket on July 12, 2002, that left the entire port town in panic.
Adds Hemant Dessai of Alto-Dabolim: “We are convinced that it’s a well-organised racket and if any negligence had to occur when oil was being siphoned off, then certainly it would have lead to a major disaster.”
Sancoale Panchas Girish Pillai and Dalvi, who were present at the site, suspect that running such a racket without involvement of officials seems to be difficult. “Police needs to investigate all the possible angles,” they demanded.
It may be recalled that when the first major oil pilferage racket was busted in 2002 at the IOC depot, the company had occurred an estimated loss of nearly Rs 10 crore.
However, such incidents are nothing new in Mormugao taluka that lifeline of Goa in terms of fuel supply.
Three months ago, the Central Bureau of Investigation had conducted raids on illegal oil storage yards and oil adulteration rackets were busted at Sancoale area and nearly 80 barrels of petroleum products were seized, besides other chemicals and equipments.
Similarly, last year oil company officials had detained two petroleum tankers when they were found suspiciously moving near Alto-Dabolim residential area.
Later, it was found that both the tankers had tampered with the company seal to siphon off the oil and case was registered against the tanker owners.