MAPUSA
Dozens of police vehicles in the Mapusa Sub-Division Police Office (SDPO) could come to a grinding halt, posing a major problem for police in law enforcement duties in virtually half of Bardez taluka.
This is because, the Directorate of Accounts (DoA) has reportedly not approved fuel bills to the tune of nearly Rs 20 lakh and in response, the petrol pump owner has decided to stop supply of fuel to vehicles in the Mapusa SDPO.
According to sources, there are 45 vehicles allotted to the Mapusa SDPO, which comprises the police stations of Mapusa, Anjuna, and Colvale, as well as the Police Traffic Cells of Mapusa and Anjuna.
The vehicles allotted to the police Mapusa Police (12), Anjuna Police (8), Colvale Police (8), Mapusa Traffic Police Cell (8) and Anjuna Traffic Police Cell (8). Besides, there is one police bus allotted for the Mapusa police sub-division.
Apart from three Scorpio jeeps, one Thar jeep and the bus which run on diesel, other police vehicles run on petrol. Most of these vehicles cover an approximate distance of 150-200 kms per day.
Diesel and petrol is supplied to all these vehicles of the Mapusa SDPO from the Burye Petrol Pump in Mapusa.
Sources said the DoA reportedly did not approve of the fuel bills amounting to about Rs 20 lakh pertaining to vehicles from the Mapusa SDPO.
“There had been an agreement between the police department and the petrol pump owner which had been in place for over 30 years. As part of this agreement, the petrol pump would provide diesel and petrol to the police vehicles in the Mapusa SDPO and would send the fuel bills to the DoA for approval and payment,” said a source.
“However this time, the DoA did not approve these bills and one officer has reportedly instructed that only diesel bills will be approved. These outstanding bills of about Rs 20 lakh are for a period of about 3-5 months.”
“With the DoA not approving these fuel bills, the petrol pump owner has decided not to supply fuel to police vehicles of the Mapusa SDPO till the pending fuel bill is cleared and has reportedly informed the Mapusa SDPO not to send their vehicles for petrol and diesel supplies.”
The source stated that if the fuel supply of police vehicles is stopped, police would be severely hampered in law enforcement duties in virtually half of Bardez taluka, with vehicles in the police stations of Mapusa, Anjuna, and Colvale, as well as the Police Traffic Cells of Mapusa and Anjuna coming to a grinding halt.
When contacted, Prasanna Burye, owner of the Burye Petrol Pump, said they had been supplying diesel and petrol to vehicles of the Mapusa SDPO for over 30 years.
“We are not given fuel on credit by the company and yet, we provided fuel to police vehicles on credit. But our bills have been rejected by the DoA, something which has never happened before. Due to this we have decided to stop the supply of fuel to police vehicles of the Mapusa SDPO,” said Burye.
