The Department of Petroleum Resources has begun visiting filling stations in Plateau to ensure major and independent marketers comply with the new pump price of N86.50 per litre as directed by the Federal Government.

In Pankshin, officials of the department visited the central and southern zones of the state to ensure total compliance.

The department’s team Leader and Human Resources Assistant, Habib Yahaya, said in Pankshin on Saturday that it was useful for both major and independent marketers to comply with the new pump price.

“All NNPC Mega Stations are expected to sell the fuel at a pump price of N86.00 per litre while major and independent marketers are suppose to sell at N86.50 per litre.

“Anything above these two official pump prices would attract serious sanctions from our department, ’’ he said.

Mr. Yahaya expressed concern over the attitude of some of the independent and major marketers who he accused of avoiding them.

“When they heard we are coming they quickly closed down and ran away from the filling station so that we could not check the volume of what they had in stock,’’ he observed.

Mr. Yahaya called on the public to alert DPR of any erring filling station that would not sell at the official pump price of N86.50.

“This because we are aware that most of the operators of these filling stations revert to old prices of their choices whenever we are out of their domain, ’’ he said.

The DPR official warned that any filling station caught flouting the directive of the government would face the wrath of the department.

He pledged that the DPR would do all it could to ensure that motorists and commuters were not subjected to hardships.

(NAN)