Account freeze: Petrol pump owners may join May 10 stir in Maharashtra
Mumbai: Petrol pump owners are threatening a protest across the state to oppose the freezing of accounts of a few pump owners in cybercrime-related cases, announced Uday Lodh from the Federation of Maharashtra Petrol Dealer Association.
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He said that pumps in various districts, including those in Mumbai, will participate in the stir, and if this happens, it could affect motorists. The protest in Mumbai could be just for a day on May 10, said a senior member of the Petrol Dealers' Association.
Commenting on the issue, Lodh told TOI: "The money trail in cybercrime was mapped to a few petrol pumps, and their accounts were frozen. This has enraged pump owners, whose digital payments were stopped, and in a few cases in Vidarbha, the accounts were frozen.
The petrol pump owners plan to protest in Vidarbha, but soon this protest at pumps could spread across Maharashtra and also in Mumbai if the govt does not intervene in the interest of the pump owner."
Lodh further said: "Money by digital payment is for the product sold at our pumps. We are not concerned about who pays and their background and cannot be labelled as 'beneficiaries' in any criminal case. We cannot be punished, and our accounts cannot be frozen for no fault of any pump owner in any cybercrime," he said.
He added that a delegation of pump owners plans to meet senior govt officials and police in this connection, besides politicians. "We do not have any mechanism to trace the fraud payment. And therefore, we cannot be held guilty or responsible," he said.
Petrol Dealers Association (Mumbai) President Chetan Modi said that it is not just a protest in Mumbai for a day against the freezing of accounts of a few pump owners in other districts but also against bank policies which involve several deductions of charges by digital payment providers.
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"There are so many charges levied on transactions, and the final amount credited to the account of the pump owner is less than what is expected," he pointed out.
A section of pump owners in Nagpur has decided not to accept digital payments (UPI, credit cards, etc) from May 10, as the frauds are detected only in digital base payments, and these pumps will dispense fuel only for cash payments, a source from the federation said, citing rising cyber frauds and blocked bank accounts as the key reasons.
Sources said that at least two accounts were frozen due to "fraudulent transactions conducted via stolen digital payment methods".
The sources said the frauds were committed by scammers using stolen or cloned UPI IDs and debit/credit cards, and the petrol pump owners were found as "beneficiaries" in the fraud, and the latter have claimed they are innocent. They now face financial losses as their accounts are frozen by authorities investigating such frauds.
More than 50%-55% of transactions at pumps are cashless and pump owners do not keep any records of persons making digital payments after refuelling their car or bike tanks, Lodh said.
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