Bhubaneswar: Months after removal from service, a private sanitation agency kept siphoning off fuel meant for Bhubaneswar’s garbage collection system, until the fraud was finally detected and Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) lodged a police complaint.Through the complaint, BMC urged police to register an FIR regarding unauthorised use of HPCL Petro Cards, criminal misappropriation and embezzlement of public funds. After the contract ended with the agency, a new agency was brought in to take over the work. The vehicles and related operational assets, including Petro Cards, were supposed to be handed over through BMC as part of the transition.“It was during this handover process that the first signs of trouble emerged. The civic body was informed that five Petro Cards were missing. A closer check later showed that at least three of those cards were used without authorisation. Suspicion deepened when repeated fuel transactions were detected on the missing cards, even though the vehicles were already being operated under the new agency. What made the pattern more alarming was that fuel was allegedly being drawn simultaneously through the missing cards as well as through HPCL corporate cards officially issued by the BMC,” said a BMC senior officer. According to the complaint, the unauthorised transactions caused a loss of Rs 9,39,435 to BMC. The BMC’s preliminary inquiry found that the fraud was not an isolated act but was allegedly carried out with active involvement and connivance of multiple persons.
