When cars run on water, it's got to be magic... or cheating

When cars run on water, it's got to be magic... or cheating
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

NEW DELHI, AUGUST 4: While Ramar Pillai's claim that diesel can be produced from water is yet to be proved, a filling station at Sarai Kale Khan may have been trying to prove the veracity of his claims - and finding that perhaps, it doesn't work after all.

Savita Filling Station here had been doling out water in place of diesel to vehicles which stopped for a refill. That was till cops came calling at the station on Thursday morning with a complainant in tow.

The station owners claim - something which the police also believe - that the flooded fields in the neighbourhood were to be blamed as they had caused water to seep into the faulty diesel tank of the station. But the complainant is in no mood to forget. Or to forgive.

Ajay Kumar, project director at the Bapu Nature Cure centre, was on his way home from his office located near Mother Dairy in East Delhi. He stopped at Savita Filling Station at 10 pm and filled diesel worth Rs 300 into his jeep. With a fairly full tank, or so he thought, he drove on till a kilometer away, the jeep came to a standstill at Ashram Chowk on Ring Road.

Having no inkling about why his vehicle was refusing to move, and also being in a hurry to reach home in Safdarjung Enclave, Kumar immediately dialled 100 on his mobile. The police arrived in minutes and arranged a crane to tow away the jeep to Srinivaspuri station.

Later, when Kumar reached the station with a mechanic, he discovered that the diesel tank had no diesel. In its place was water.

On the advice of the police, he filed a complaint at the Sarai Kale Khan police station. But when the oil station owners were summoned by the police, they said that they would check their tank and get back to them.

Bal Singh Negi, a senior manager at the diesel station, told The Indian Express that the flooded fields near the station had led water to seep into one of their two diesel tanks. The tank, about 15 feet into the earth, has been closed down for repair, he said.

Negi added that many more complaints had poured in from customers and they were refunding everyone.

As for the police, they buy the station's theory. The police told The Indian Express that they had decided against filing a First Information Report as "their claim that flooded fields had caused the problem rings true".

However, Kumar is not satisfied with the explanation or the refund of Rs 300 and is determined to approach the consumer court. "If they get away with this, then anyone will take a customer for a ride," he said.

"Even if what they say is true, surely they should know of other ways to avoid such lapses than through complaints from suffering customers," he said and added, "A refund cannot undo the harm that they may have caused a vehicle user late in the night with just water for fuel."