Thousands of vehicle engines are stalling across Karnataka because fuel stations are blending ethanol far beyond the legal 20 percent threshold.
DK Shivakumar leveled the charge directly at retail pump operators, warning that fuel retailers are spiking petrol with cheaper ethanol to pocket illicit profit margins. State inspectors collected fuel samples from 67 distribution points after drivers flooded regulatory desks with complaints of sudden breakdowns and plummeting mileage. An investigation by Karnataka's Department of Food, Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs and Legal Metrology found ethanol concentrations ranging between 26 and 31 percent.
The engines simply gave up.
Shivakumar dismissed allegations of partisan maneuvering, pushing back against opposition claims led by R Ashoka. The state administration has completed roughly 30 percent of its field probe. "We have checked; the mixing is happening at the petrol bunks," Shivakumar said. "Because it is available at a lower price, they are mixing it to make a profit. We condemn this. It is dangerous."
The Centre fired back immediately.
All 893 samples of E20 fuel drawn across 27 States and Union Territories conformed strictly to national quality parameters, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas countered. The country's three state-run oil marketing giants—Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited—insisted their fuel terminals run on automated, tamper-proof blending pipelines that eliminate human manipulation.
Yet Karnataka leaders rejected that defense, framing the central rebuttal as an administrative cover-up. Congress functionary Rajendra Pal Gautam claimed pump operators privately conceded blending levels reaching as high as 40 percent under economic pressures. Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Suresh Gopi mounted a stiff defense of the Centre's E20 rollout, asserting that the 20 percent ratio rests on rigorous automotive and chemical benchmarks while warning against political distortions of technical policy.
The state government will escalate the confrontation on Monday, when a designated cabinet minister convenes a formal press conference to release location-by-location test dockets and lab verification certificates.