Doha: Petrol stations across the country will soon be asked to have surveillance cameras installed at their premises so the devices could be linked to the interior ministry and Woqod to clamp down on diesel smuggling.
The State Cabinet yesterday approved the recommendations of a high-profile committee that was formed early last month to combat diesel smuggling.
One of the recommendations is to enforce a law that makes the smuggling of the key fuel an economic offense punishable by law.
Diesel is highly subsidised here and sold to motorists and local companies for use in transport and generators at very low rates—QR1.5 per litre. However, despite the price having been raised last year by 50 dirhams, alleged smuggling of the fuel by shady operators remains a problem, and hence the latest government measure to fight the menace.
The other recommendation of the committee is to install CCTV cameras at all petrol stations in the country and link them to the interior ministry and local petroleum products distributor, Qatar Fuel (Woqod), QNA reports.
The third and the last recommendation of the high-powered panel is to tighten monitoring over projects that are located near the seashore providing easy access to the sea (for escape with smuggled diesel).
The panel was set up on the orders of the Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani early last month, and chaired by a Qatar Petroleum representative, with its deputy head being from the interior ministry’s Civil Defence.
The panel has members from various other ministries and has given its recommendations in a record time of less than a month.
Knowledgeable circles say that CCTV cameras installed at petrol stations would help the interior ministry and Woqod control rooms monitor closely the uptake of diesel from these outlets.
For example, buses and heavy vehicles are used by some, allegedly in tandem with some officials of petrol stations, to fill diesel in their tanks allegedly for smuggling as also for sale on the local black market. Another modus operandi adopted by the alleged smugglers is to buy diesel and carry it in jerry cans, again in nexus with some petrol station officials.
Then, there are companies that have permits to buy diesel from petrol stations in large quantities for use in transport and generators and their people may be misusing the quotas.
With CCTV cameras installed at the petrol stations, officials of the interior ministry and Woqod would be able to see if a bus or another heavy vehicle comes to a petrol station several times or visits other petrol stations too frequently.
People carrying diesel in jerry cans and frequenting petrol stations can also be monitored by CCTV cameras, observers said.
The Peninsula
