Dimapur, October 23 (MExN): The Against Corruption and Unabated Taxation (ACAUT) Nagaland today released documents acquired through RTI, indicating that over the past 12 years, there has been a discrepancy of 11.90 Crores liters in distribution of Supreme Kerosene (SK) Oil given in quota by the centre to the state.
The documents, made available to the media, were acquired by the ACAUT through an RTI filed with the Nagaland State Food and Civil Supplies (F&CS) Department.
A press statement from the ACAUT alleged that the “fuel adulteration issue is not confined to the kingpins alone as the state government would like us to believe.” The fact of the matter is that the F&CS department, along with the “kingpins - also the SK Oil stockiest, have been diverting crores of liters of SK Oil to the black market for the last 15-20 years with impunity,” it added.
The ACAUT said that in the process, “hundreds of crores of rupees have enriched the pockets of an entire spectrum of society, most notably the politicians and the bureaucratic class, as also the keepers of the law.”
The RTI documents, the ACAUT said reveals that the F&CS department has “diverted approximately 12 crore liters of SK oil, meant for poor beneficiaries, to the black market.” “Thus, the end result being, Nagaland emerged as the largest producer of adulterated fuel in the country. In monetary value, 12 crore litres @Rs.40 per liter at today’s market rate would be approximately Rs. 500 crores,” it pointed out. It further alleged that successive Chief Ministers have “felt the need to totally control the goose-that-lays-the-golden egg F&CS Department.”
The RTI documents showed that the years from 2009 to 2014 witnessed the maximum discrepancy in distribution of the SK Oil. “This being the hard reality of the fuel adulteration case- the sheer criminal nature of the diversion, it is simply condemnable that the Cabinet would rather call the indefinite highway bandh called by the CCoFA illegal instead of declaring a war against corruption,” the ACAUT lamented.
“It is now absolutely incumbent upon the government to support anti-corruption measures called by various sections of society instead of aggravating issues with legalistic measures, such as labeling bandhs and agitations as ‘illegal’” it stated.
The ACAUT cautioned that unless the SIT charge sheet is comprehensive, inclusive of the SK Oil diversion in the last 15-20 years and the manner of its disposal, as highlighted by the ACAUT, “there is bound to be more unwarranted situation for which the government shall be solely answerable to the people.” It further termed a complete “sanitization” of the Food and Civil Supplies Department as “absolutely crucial.”
