The Indian Oil Corporation on Tuesday reiterated that it was committed to reaching fuel 24x7 to all customers in Kerala, where it enjoys 48 per cent market share with 900 fuel outlets out of a total of 1,900.
A statement issued by the public sector oil marketing company said that it floated public tenders every three years to select tank truck vendors to transport petroleum products from its depots and terminals to fuel outlets. A public tender was floated in July this year.
The tender covers trucks owned by dealers and contractors. A new non-recognised committee called BPCL, HPCL, IOCL Dealers, Transporters and TT Crew Committee had demanded that the tender should be cancelled or modified, failing which they would resort to strike and stop loading the trucks from depots. The key demands raised by the new outfit are — transport rate should be hiked to Rs.3.50 per kilolitre per kilometre from the present existing Rs.2.02 per kl per km; tenders should be floated by all the three oil companies together and not individually; and safety fittings prescribed in the tender should not be insisted upon and if required, IOC should provide the same.
However, IOCL has said that at the current Rs.2.02 per kl per km, the truck vendors get paid Rs.40 per kl per km, and with their demand to hike it to Rs.3.50 per kl per km, they are looking at a margin of Rs. 77 per kl per km. Any public passenger transport vehicle charges anywhere between Rs.7 to Rs.12 per km. Such an increase in per kl per km rate would make fuel costlier.
