The Hindu Business Line : BPCL to give <I>dhabas </I> run for the money

THE NEXT time a truck driver commences his long and tedious journey from one end of the country to another, using the 65,569-km-long national highway network, he will not have to put up with the dhabas (roadside eateries) and their unhygienic surroundings, thanks to Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd's (BPCL) initiative.

BPCL has initiated a `one stop truck shop' (OSTS) facility, which includes a gas station, dormitory and eatery. Currently, 65 such `OSTS' are up and running all over the country. The company plans to expand it to 300 in the next three years. Every facility has a capital investment of Rs 2 crore.

"We hope that through such projects our diesel sales will go up by 20-25 per cent in the coming years," Mr K. Shenoy, Deputy General Manager (Highway Strategy Team), BPCL, told Business Line.

Truckers in India usually go to the highway dhabas for their food, which also doubles up as dormitory for an overnight stay. However, such dhabas are not hygienic and lack basic amenities.

The OSTS will take care of the personal, travelling and business requirements of truckers and long-distance travellers. "With the initiation of the Golden Quadrilateral projects and new-generation cars we expect more traffic on the roads. Our facility, spread over three acres, will offer food at economical rates, dormitories, laundry services and even a barbershop for drivers. We will also offer basic telephony services at the site," Mr Shenoy said.

Packed vegetables: "South Indian drivers do not eat at the dhabas, they prefer to cook their own food; keeping this in mind we plan to give them packed vegetables also," he added.

The OSTS would be greenfield sites. The company also plans to upgrade some of its strategically located petrol pumps to OSTS. Company staff would manage all the osts to ensure quality service, Mr Shenoy said.

The challenge: Mr S. Chandrashekhar, Independent Transport Analyst, said that attracting truckers to such facilities is a challenging task, as the dhabas are already well entrenched on the highways and offer cheap alternatives. Truckers in India have low salaries; therefore they always seek ways to save money from their daily travelling allowances. If BPCL can offer all amenities at reasonable prices, then the project could succeed.

"At dhabas truckers can smoke and drink liquor. Whether such practices can be allowed or controlled at the OSTS would be the real challenge," Mr Chandrashekhar said.

More Stories on : Petroleum | Strategy | Roadways

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