MURLI Deora’s much-acclaimed kerosene marker project has been hit by a double whammy. While the dye has failed to be a foolproof method to detect kerosene mixed in petrol and diesel, its purchase contract has been put under the CBI scanner for alleged irregularities. Last month, the CBI had asked the Petroleum Ministry to provide documents on award of the Rs 200-crore contract to UK firm Authentix. It wants details of the offers submitted by the seven shortlisted vendors, names and addresses of officers on tender committee, their notes and comparative statements in selecting Authentix. The probe follows a PIL by Oil Sector Officers’ Association convenor Ashok Singh, which alleged the then Petroleum Secretary M S Srinivasan, Authentix and its Mumbai-based Indian partner SGS Ltd had hatched a criminal conspiracy and violated norms to award the contract in 2006 without a public tender. Singh alleged the contract did not adhere to standard procedures such as listing the specs of the product, calling for tender as recommended by the Central Vigilance Commission and conducting field trials before selecting a vendor. Documents obtained by The Indian Express show the ministry’s Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell had “zeroed in on two parties” and had asked oil firms to examine their markers. But it was later decided that “because of difficulty in testing at field levels due to high cost of equipment of the other party, only Authentix marker system was recommended”. The three state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) signed contracts worth Rs 106 crore with Authentix for supplying marker from October 2006. Thereafter, three more contracts were signed, the last one in October 2008, a month after the ministry was told tests at OMCs’ labs showed “Authentix Marker can be laundered”. “As per the findings, at a dosage of 1 per cent, the powder (natural clay) removed the Authentix Marker. At a dosage of 2 per cent, the powder removed the blue colour of the PDS kerosene,” says the paper submitted by the three OMCs on September 25 this year. In October 2006, Deora rolled out the project of dyeing kerosene with the “revolutionary” non-removable Authentix marker, saying it would bring “an end” to mixing of subsidised kerosene in higher-priced diesel and petrol— the most common method of adulteration. Aware of the marker’s failure, the ministry directed the OMCs on March 5 this year “to make efforts to identify alternative marker suppliers by conduct of appropriate field trials for participation in tender”. However, that tender, initiated in July 2008, has been stopped with the Mumbai High Court telling the ministry “to examine the matter in accordance with law and after receiving the report from the CBI also (sic) to proceed against the erring officers”.
