At a special function organised by the district supply office, the State labour and employment minister Bhupendra Lakhawala, member of legislative assembly Yogesh Patel and mayor Bharatiben Vyas sought people's help to check the crime of fuel adulteration which was committed by several unscrupulous petrol pump managements in the district.

The function was organised to inform people that any consumer could detect adulteration by sprinkling a drop of petrol or diesel on a test paper. While the unadulterated product would evaporate in about three minutes while the adulterated variety would not. The Government of India has stipulated over two years ago that such test facilities must be compulsorily available at every petrol pump.

Sadly, only a crowd of officials, and a few ordinary citizens, were present to learn all this. That the oil company and the pump management was contributing its bit for the awareness drive was appreciated by the dignitaries, who were disappointed by the response.

Lakhawala and Patel, who addressed the small gathering at the pump, exhorted people to perform the test and select the better pumps on their own. ``This would discourage the unscrupulous elements'', Lakhawala said. Pump managers and the oil company officials, who did not want to be named, admitted to a poor response despite their efforts, but said it was a beginning.

They said that while the official machinery did its checks, the people should also come forward to avoid unscrupulous fuel businessmen and promote the genuine ones. They showed the written response to the drive -- on since December 17 last year -- from the public, and agreed that there was hardly any voluntary participation as people had to be requested to do the test. The people's representatives reiterated the State government's commitment to checking the increasing adulteration, and said that the government checks against unscrupulous businessmen would intensify in days to come.