The decision has averted the strike that the Federation of Nepal Petroleum Tankers Operators (FNPTO) had threatened to launch from Tuesday. “The consumers need not worry for the supply now. The strike has been withdrawn,” Mukunda Dhungel, spokesperson of NOC, told myrepublica.com. [break]
The federation had threatened to bring import and distribution of fuel to a halt from Tuesday if the corporation did not revoke its decision to stop imports from Barauni refinery.
The tanker operators had flayed the decision, arguing that it had pushed them out of the business and put their investments at risk. But the federation officials neither spelled a word of wrongdoing by their members not made any commitment to control their peers.
NOC had decided to close fuel import from Barauni after its high-level technical probe team confirmed wrong calibration in tankers, because of which NOC was receive lesser fuel than what it paid to the Indian supplier.
But during the talks held on Monday, NOC management did not hold its stance on the loss for long. Reason was more than obvious: If they stood firm, the tankers operators could launch strike, creating unwanted crisis ahead of the biggest festive season of the country.
However, Dhungel stated that Monday´s agreement does not promise to open normal import, but has taken a step to control import from the India refinery.
“We have agreed to issue purchase delivery order (PDO) to only 12 tankers a day,” said Dhungel. This means, NOC is allowing only 12 tankers to transport fuel from Barauni refinery every day. More than 130 tankers used to import fuel from Barauni on normal days.
NOC has also announced that it will depute its own staff in Barauni to recheck the calibration prior to issuing the loading.
“The staff will assure that only the tankers having correct calibration will get the supply from the Indian Oil Corporation,” Dhungel said, adding, “Those having faulty calibration will have to undergo recalibration.”
By doing this, NOC believes it will be able to check tanker operators from stealing oil and also force them correct the calibration.
The probe team had found that tanker operators ferrying fuel on Amlekhgunj-Barauni route were delivering as much as 250 liters less fuel to NOC on every consignment of 20 kiloliters.
The NOC had opened the route when sever crisis hit the country two years ago. It was a step taken for managing crisis and would be revoked once supplies ease, NOC Chief Digambar Jha had told myrepublica.com then.
However, Jha later made the route permanent, despite complains of high technical loss it generated and growing anomalies, including oil theft by the operators. He had inducted more than 130 tankers to ferry oil on the route and those included tankers belonging to relatives of ministers and local politicians.
Minister´s nephew manhandles NOC staff
A group of petroleum tanker operators, including Dinesh Yadav, the nephew of Assistant Minister for Commerce and Supplies, manhandled and issued life threats to senior officials of Amlekhgunj depot of Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC), charging them of trying to plug their ´special benefits´.
The tanker operators were irked with the officials mainly because they had pushed the management to stop imports from Barauni refinery, citing both technical and non-technical loss.
“A group of operators barged into the depot, manhandled depot chief Rabin Sharma and issued life threats on Sunday evening,” said a staff at the depot.
The persons involved in the act were Sanjaya Yadav, who operates four tankers on the route; Anil Singh, member of Federation of Nepalese Petroleum Tankers Operators Federation (FNPTO); and Baikuntha Srivastav of Nepal Tarun Dal, Birgunj, among others.
“Who are you to stop our earning? If you halt import from Barauni, consider yourself dead,” the staff present at the scene of scuffle quoted Yadav as saying. The depot staff claimed that the group had entered the depot as per the instruction of Manoj Das, the son of former president of FNPTO Birendra Das, who operates more than 100 petroleum tankers.
Though the incident has irked the staff, NOC management preferred to remain mum on the issue.
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