District administrations across 64 districts recovered 87,700 liters of illegally hoarded fuel in 24 hours, officials said Tuesday.
During the drives, 191 cases were filed and fines totaling Tk 935,070 were imposed.
The information was provided by Monir Hossain Chowdhury, spokesperson and joint secretary of the Energy and Mineral Resources Division, at a press briefing at the Secretariat. He said 391 drives were conducted during the period based on reports from district administrations.
Seven individuals were sentenced during the operations. One person in Satkhira received a two-month jail term, one in Chandpur was sentenced to one year, and one in Gazipur received one month.
Of the recovered fuel, 67,400 liters were diesel, 6,444 liters octane, and 13,856 liters petrol.
Chowdhury said magistrates from the division continued monitoring and enforcement operations in Dhaka metropolitan areas, including Uttara embankment, Gabtoli, and Amin Bazar, to oversee fuel distribution.
In one incident at Uttara embankment, authorities detected open roadside fuel sales. The shopkeeper fled upon seeing the mobile court, but officials seized 100 liters of diesel and 10 liters of octane. The recovered fuel was later sold through nearby filling stations, with proceeds to be deposited in the government treasury.
He said that following a March 27 online meeting chaired by Secretary Mohammad Saiful Islam, a “tag officer” has been assigned to every petrol pump nationwide. In Dhaka and Chittagong metropolitan areas, the officers were appointed by BPC, while in other districts and divisional cities, district commissioners and upazila executive officers appointed government officials to the role.
Division-wise, the number of tag officers is: Dhaka (13 districts) – 479; Chittagong (11 districts) – 330; Rajshahi (8 districts) – 340; Khulna (10 districts) – 301; Rangpur (8 districts) – 356; Barisal (6 districts) – 61; Mymensingh (4 districts) – 104; Sylhet (4 districts) – 135.
Additionally, 116 officers in Dhaka Metropolitan and 62 in Chittagong Metropolitan have been assigned as tag officers.
Regarding fuel stocks, Chowdhury said that as of March 31, the country has 128,939 metric tons of diesel, 7,940 metric tons of octane, 11,431 metric tons of petrol, and 44,609 metric tons of jet fuel. He said there is no fuel shortage in the country.
