国内英语新闻:China cracks down on diesel overcharging amid shortage

BEIJING, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's economic planner and price regulator, said Friday it has asked local governments to crack down on some gas stations selling diesel above the state-set prices.

NDRC investigators found some gas stations have been selling diesel above state-set prices in the provinces of Sichuan, Hubei, Henan, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Liaoning, Jiangxi and Shanxi and Chongqing Municipality.

The NDRC has requested local governments to punish the offending gas stations.

The stations were ordered to stop overcharging and turn over illegal incomes to authorities, according to a statement on the NDRC web-site.

Also, the stations would receive punitive fines, it said.

Among the violators, Yueyuan gas station in Xichang, Sichuan Province, sold No. 0 diesel for 9 yuan (1.35 U.S. dollars) per liter, as against the state-set 6.55 yuan.

The NDRC said that consumers can call 12358 to complain about diesel overpricing and the price regulators will respond quickly.

The latest measures were adopted in the wake of those publicized Tuesday, which were aimed to stop some refiners and diesel wholesalers from overcharging.

An uNPRecedented diesel shortage has hit China's cities and markets, leading some wholesalers and gas stations to sell diesel above the state-set prices.

Due to the diesel shortage, some enterprises suspended production and express deliveries turned into "snail deliveries."

People found that it took much longer for buses to arrive and even some crematories found it hard to get enough diesel for cremations.

"We can't find enough diesel. Ten of the trucks in our company can't go out to deliver cargo. Our businesses are affected," said Du Zhanhai, head of a freight transportation company in Tangshan, north China's Hebei Province.

The deadline for China's planned reduction in energy consumption is approaching. The country announced that it would reduce energy consumption by 20 percent per GDP unit during the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010).