Govt. ignored evidence against Ramar Pillai

By Mukund Padmanabhan

CHENNAI, APRIL 25. Alarm bells were sounded very soon after Ramar Fuel hit the market in July 1999. One `herbal petrol' retail outlet which opened on Peters Road in Chennai caused a decline in the sales of an Indian Oil Corporation petrol bunk.

This prompted IOC officials to collect samples of Ramar Fuel, which were then sent to the company's laboratory in Korukkupet for testing.

In its report dated 07-08-99, the lab stated that the ``UV spectrum of the samples confirms that major content of the sample is Benzene and Toluene'' (both hydrocarbons).

The very next day (08-09-99), Mr. Thampy John, State Level Coordinator for IOC wrote to the Special Commissioner & Commissioner for Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection drawing attention to the ``largescale adulteration of fuels'', referring to the lab report which showed up Pillai's ``herbal fuel'' as hydrocarbon-based and requesting that steps be initiated to ``curb the sale of adulterated/spurious fuels through shops''.

This was only one of many such complaints to the Tamil Nadu Government over the next few months. On 27.12.99, Mr. Thampy John complained in a letter to the Civil Supplies Commissioner that outlets selling motor spirits unauthorisedly were being licensed by the fire services department. As a helpful measure, a copy of a license issued to a petrol retail shop on Thiruvalluvar Salai in West K.K. Nagar by the Divisional Fire Officer at Chennai was attached.

On March 2 this year, just days before Ramar Pillai was arrested by the CBI, IOC's Deputy General Manager, Mr. Sampath Kumaran, warned that ``the `herbal fuel' marketed by Ramar Pillai and other such products attract the provisions...of the Regulation of Supply and Distribution and Prevention of Malpractices Order, 1998.''

On the whole, the State Government displayed an enormous lethargy to act against Pillai. And when one of its wings did, the powers that be decided to suppress the results of that inquiry.

The Civil Supplies CID, worried about the proliferation of Ramar Fuel shops all over the city, demanded an explanation from Pillai. Pillai showed an officer a copy of an earlier Central order permitting him to produce 500 litres a day on an experimental basis. The officer bluntly told Pillai that he was selling much more than that.

In November 1999, the Civil Supplies CID sent a Ramar Fuel sample to the State Government's Forensic Science Department for testing. The lab report (T.no 7421/99 dated 10-11-99) stated that the sample ``does not conform to the specifications laid down for petrol''. It adds: ``The liquid was found to be benzene...a highly toxic and dangerous and carcinogenic chemical.''

Even though Ramar Fuel was a cause of dangerous cancer-causing air pollution, higher ups in the State bureaucracy took no notice of the test report and in fact wanted the matter to be quietly forgotten. A little later, the police officer responsible for taking the initiative was transferred.

How totally unwilling the State Government was to act against Pillai's commercial venture is reflected in the minutes of a routine meeting in which the Commissioner of Civil Supplies, the Food Cell CID and some representatives of oil companies participated. It took place on March 7, exactly three days before the CBI arrested Pillai. Yet all that the minutes record about Pillai's flourishing commercial venture is a line of spectacular ambiguity: ``It is unclear if the Ramar Bio Fuel is being manufactured, stored or sold and per regulations in force if what is sold is as per specifications. Necessary checks are warranted.''

Not surprisingly, the CBI's arrest of Pillai has brought some pressure on the organisation from influential quarters. For Pillai's talent at magic won over all kinds of people - those proud he was a Tamil, those sympathetic about his caste origins, those overwhelmed by his native or `swadeshi' genius and those who believed they could make a quick buck. In his statement to the CBI, Pillai has confessed to receiving assistance from many quarters. A politician from Tamil Nadu, an industrialist from Hyderabad, a well-known RSS/Swadeshi activist in Chennai - the web was indeed very wide.

(Concluded)

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : National
Previous : Drought may lead to famine: CPI(M)
Next     : Govt. to purchase tanker planes soon