Mumbai government considers proposals to stop black marketing of kerosene

Mumbai’s state government plans to overcome the rampant black marketing and diversion of kerosene by revising its distribution model. The new plan gives eligible families a quota for kerosene, while the current system relies on the number of persons in the family as the standard for the distribution of the “poor man’s fuel.” The state’s food and civil supplies department is also studying a proposal that would make kerosene available to the fair price shops on specific days. A cabinet subcommittee supports the proposal which could soon come up before the state cabinet. The union oil ministry, which supplies the subsidized kerosene to the different states, predict that as much as 40% of the kerosene is siphoned off and eventually sold on the black market. The kerosene is then used as furnace by some oil companies and others are used to adulterate diesel and lubricants. (June 12, 2012)