Bhopal: In an incident that has caused severe embarassment to the Madhya Pradesh government, 19 SUVs assigned to chief minister Mohan Yadav’s cavalcade for his visit to Ratlam on Friday broke down a day before after using diesel mixed with water.
Authorities have sealed the private fuel pump from where the diesel was procured. Samples have been collected and sent for forensic analysis.
“The incident occurred on Thursday evening when trials were being conducted. Two vehicles developed problems at first. Later, the engines of 17 other vehicles also seized and they came to a stop in the middle of the road. They had to be pushed to the side for other traffic to move. There could have been a major crisis if this had happened when the CM was travelling,” a official said.
Video clips of the vehicles being pushed to the roadside went viral on social media, prompting the CM’s office to come out with a clarification that there was no security breach, since the fleet of cars broke down during the trial run before Yadav’s travel.
The police have started a probe and appropriate action will be taken against the fuel pump management for supplying adulterated fuel, the official said.
More cars were arranged from Indore to replace the damaged vehicles. Mechanics have also reached with fuel supply to repair the SUVs. The entire systems will have to be bled to remove the adulterated diesel.
According to those in the food and civil supplies department, a check of the fuel tanks of the vehicles revealed diesel floating on water.
“We can’t say how much water was mixed with the diesel. A probe is on,” another official said.
Local naib tehsildar Ashish Upadhyay confirmed that the fuel pump has been sealed. A truck is also known to have broken down after filling diesel from the pump.
Amarjeet Dabar, manager of the fuel pump denied that there was any mischief involved. “Water may have seeped into the underground fuel tank due to the heavy rain,” he said.
