(done/ak)Aurangabad: The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has been found to be selling only branded petrol at many of its outlets at monopoly locations in different parts of Maharashtra even as fuel prices are continuing to increase sharply.According to sources in the IOC, many of the company’s petrol stations have been discreetly selling only XtraPremium petrol for the past 22 months, forcing customers to pay around Rs 3 more.The sources said that this pattern of compulsorily selling branded fuel through fuel stations located at strategic locations is successfully being followed in different parts of the state.The IOC outlets in Aurangabad were selling petrol for Rs 91.13 per litre and XtraPremium petrol for Rs 93.90 per litre on Monday.When contacted, Federation of All Maharashtra Petrol Dealers Association president Uday Lodh admitted that the IOC is following the strategy to increase the sale of premium petrol in an unethical manner.“A similar issue was raised in Malegaon recently, following which the Nashik district collector too serious cognizance of it and the petrol pump started keeping regular as well as premium petrol,” said Lodh.The general manager (retail sales) of IOC, Partha Bora said, “There are certain outlets in the state where only XtraPremium is being sold. Now, as you have brought the matter to our notice, we will definitely look into the matter.”The state head of the IOC’s retail sale, however added that the XtraPremium petrol is being provided on demand by the retailers.The operators of some of the the retail outlets selling only XtraPremium petrol alleged that they are being forced to sell only branded fuel by IOC since December 2016.An check conducted by this reporter revealed that two IOC petrol pumps in Jalna city, one in Ambad taluka, Aurangabad district and another Beed district besides more areas of Marathwada region are selling only branded petrol.The dealers and employees at these petrol stations confirmed the same but refused to come on record. “By forcing certain outlets to sell only branded fuel, the IOC is denying the customer the right to choose from two categories of petrol,” a dealer told TOI.“A dealer earns a profit of about Rs 2.93 per litre through the sale of normal petrol and around Rs 3.50 on branded petrol. The oil company is the main main gainer,” said a dealer.When contacted, area sales officers deployed in the region said the sale of branded fuel at some of the IOC outlets is being done on an experiment basis to check the acceptance of the fuel in the masses. They, however, refused to elaborate on why the experiment is going on for the last 22 months and that too only at some of the outlets.

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