Imphal, July 15 2010: The oil pump owners (retail outlet dealers) have expressed their discontentment and disappointment over the manner the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.

(IOCL) has been shying away from its responsibility towards the dealers.

The owners/dealers have also expressed unhapiness over the manner the Consumer Affairs and Food & Public Distribution (CAF & PD), Government of Manipur has been rationalising allotment of petroleum products to the retail outlet (RO) dealers.

Convenor, Joint Action Committee of IOCL Retail Outlet Dealers of Manipur in a press release said today that a meeting of the IOCL RO dealers was held yesterday at Hotel Nirmala here and discussed the current fuel crisis in Manipur that arose out of the economic blockade of NH 39/53 for more than three months and the decision thereafter not to use 39 for transportation of POL products outside Manipur, and its impact/effect on the retail outlet business in Manipur.

Most of the RO dealers present felt that commercially the RO (Petrol Pump) business has come to a standstill since Apirl 2010, till date.

Most of the ROs have not opened for more than a day's business in a month and it will not be surprising if some ROs have not opened even for a single day's business during April, May, June and July, 2010.The ROs have to maintain their staff, pay bank interest and other expenditures like rent, electricity & telephone bills without doing any business.

Now, the ROs are facing financial crisis and running on heavy debts.

It will not be viable to run the RO business in Manipur if this situation continues for another two/three months.

The primary concern of the RO dealers present was the survival of the RO business in the present queues, the press release stated.

The press release further stated that the RO dealers expressed their unhappiness over the manner of allocation or selection of designated ROs in each districts by the CAF & PD Department, Government of Manipur during the months of April, May, June, and July without taking into consideration the quantity to be uplifted during the normal period.

As a result, some ROs located in the outskirts are getting more than the normal period quantity since the rationing system comes into effective as the supply goes in the form of quota.

The ROs meeting made allegations of favouritism and nepotism against the said Dept in selection of the ROs.

The IOCL selected ROs after assessing market potential and viability of the ROs.

The IOCL knows better than Manipur government which ROs have more consumers than some other ROs.

But after the CAF&PD Department, Government of Manipur took over the operations of the IOCL the entire supply system has been thrown out of gear and the situation worsens further, it alleged.

The IOCL who have entered into a business venture with the RO dealers by signing an agreement, accepting security deposits and asking its RO dealers to invest in the said business are under a commercial obligation towards its RO dealers to maintain regular supply of POL products to make the retail outlet business a profitable one, the press release stated.

In the present situation when the IOCL transporters are reluctant to ply NH 53 on the present IOCL transportation fare due to the miserable conditions of the road which has escalated their line expenditures and maintenance cost, the IOCL has not bothered to explore the possibility of entrusting the responsibility of transportation of POL products to the ROs who can either use its own TTs or engage/attach other TTs of willing IOCL transporters with the incentive that the said product will be supplied to the said RO only, like in the case of NRL and BPCL RO dealers in Manipur.

If this plan works out all the IOCL, RO dealers will strive to engage TTs for transportation of their own supply for the survival of its RO business and scarcity of fuel in Manipur will be tackled to a considerable extent, the press release said.

Lastly, the press release stated that the IOCL, RO dealers expressed their desire to see the North East Integrated State Office (NEISO), Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Guwahati to take a pro-active role in the present fuel crisis in Manipur in the interest of IOCL, RO dealers of Manipur who are their channe/business parter.

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