Duplicating efforts at the fake factory

Duplicating efforts at the fake factory
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

MARCH, 2: It's just another garage in West Bapty Road and the grease-smeared mechanics seem oblivious to the fact that the police have ordered a crackdown on the illegal manufacture of unauthorised cylinders for CNG- fuelled taxis after the explosion yesterday at Chembur.

In open defiance the mechanics continue to work on the rickety taxis as the Newsline team which visited these garages found.

After making inquires with the people in the neighbourhood, they found the area to be a den for all shady activities. One elderly man claimed that a certain Palsania Garage in the murky bylanes of the area manufactures the cylinders used in the taxis. The rate of the locally-made CNG kit is pegged between Rs 14,000 to Rs 18,000 as against the Rs 35,000 for the imported kit.

``As you can see, these people are hardly bothered by the deaths yesterday of four persons. They make so much money they can afford to bribe those concerned. And even in the event of a police raid they can fool anybody with their imitation kits. They can make a perfect duplicate of the cylinder made in Italy,'' revealed one grocer in the area.

True enough the police drew a blank after raiding 14 garages suspected of manufacturing the cylinders. They found nothing incriminating in the garages. ``We raided around 14 outlets which are suspected of making these cylinders but found nothing. It's possibe these people may have covered up the traces and hidden the material. Unless we catch the owner of the taxi whose cylinder burst yesterday we are unlikely to make any progress,'' said Senior Inspector at Tilak Nagar police station R B Yannam.