In this connection, the state-owned fuel monopolist has even floated a proposal among staffs on fixing the maximum acceptable loss limit to one percent for petrol imported from Barauni. [break]
If the decision materializes, the depot will be allowed to account loss up to 1 percent of total petrol received from Barauni as technical and handling loss. Such limit for petrol imports from Raxaul to Amlekhgunj and Barauni to Biratnagar stands at 0.57 percent.
Senior officials and trade unions, meanwhile, have flayed the proposal, saying that it will spur leakage and allow depot staffs walk away even after inflicting as high as one percent loss to the corporation.
Instead of adjusting loss, they urged the management to step up imports from Raxaul and stop imports from Barauni, especially as Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has agreed to supply as much fuel as Amlekhgunj seeks from Raxaul.
“Importing petrol from Barauni is unnecessary, as IOC has committed to dispatch ordered volume of fuel from Raxaul itself,” said Shiva Adhikari, general secretary of NOC Employees´ Organization.
IOC had set up Raxaul depot solely to supply fuel to Nepal. But presently, it is supplying fuel to local petrol pumps as well. “We must reclaim that established rights of ours with IOC. Unfortunately, our management is eagerly giving up the country´s rights just to open imports from Barauni, which will serve only the interest of the transporters,” said a senior NOC official.
NOC had opened fuel imports to Amlekhgunj from Barauni when fuel shortage hit the country over a year ago. “It is a crisis management step. We will close it down once the supply returns to normal,” NOC Chief Digambhar Jha had told Republica then.
However, over the span of a year, NOC inducted about 150 tankers to ferry fuel on the route, and made Barauni a permanent source.
“Unfortunately, it was done despite the fact that importing fuel from Barauni costs more than importing fuel from Raxaul and inflicts additional technical loss as well. It is benefiting neither NOC nor the consumers,” Adhikari added.
Because of the distance factor, NOC is currently spending additional Rs 1.2 per liter to transport fuel from Barauni than the cost incurred while importing the same from Raxaul. Likewise, because of higher difference in temperature, which causes oil volume to shrink more, NOC suffers additional technical loss while importing fuel from Barauni.
“Clearly, the choice of the management must have been to import more from Raxaul than opening imports from Barauni,” said Adhikari, demanding the NOC board to intervene in the decision.
Petrol supply dwindles
Supply of petrol dwindled further in the market on Wednesday, as the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) failed to sort out the problem that it is facing in imports from Raxaul - the largest import point.
The corporation on the day pumped out 173 kiloliters of petrol in the Kathmandu Valley, which was just about 60 percent of the normal fuel demand. “Only 43 petrol pumps received fuel on the day,” said Saroj Pandey, president of Nepal Petroleum Dealers Association (NPDA).
More than 60 private refilling stations operated with no-petrol signs. This affected availability of popular vehicular fuel in the market. The supply of diesel and kerosene, however, remained smooth.
NOC officials attributed the problem to technical glitches in IOC refineries, but refused to elaborate further.
To deal with the problem, NOC has decided to supply petrol to Kathmandu from Bhairahawa. “We have instructed Bhairahawa depot to supply 200 kiloliters of petrol to Kathmandu every day from Thursday,” said Mohan Karki, deputy director (distribution) of NOC.
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