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The three oil companies – Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum – are in a fix with transporters in South, East and North boycotting the tender issued by them for bulk LPG transportation across the country.
Participation in the tender closed at 11 am. The tender documents were opened at 3 pm with transporters from the West alone participating, according to an official of an oil company who did not wish to be identified.
The transporters are protesting against the reduction in weigh tolerance level to 40 kg from the existing 100 kg between the loading and unloading points.
Nearly 12,000 vehicles are required to transport bulk LPG from various loading centres to bottling plants. The tender is collectively worth nearly Rs 6,500 crore, according to truck industry sources in Namakkal.
Meeting in Mumbai
Top officials of the three oil companies are meeting in Mumbai on Thursday to chalk out the next action plan. “We need to find out a solution soon,” he said.
The options with the industry (the three oil companies) are to re-float the three-year tender (effective November 1) and convince the truckers to participate in the tender or ask the operators who participated in the tender to provide more vehicles.
The second option is, however, impossible considering the huge number of vehicles required, he said.
However, transporters in Namakkal said participation in the tender will only happen if the clause on weigh tolerance is amended or removed.
CAG recommendation
According to the industry official, the new clause was included in the tender based on the recommendation of the Comptroller Auditor General of India (CAG).
The report found ‘malpractice' during LPG transportation with truckers using a ‘special instrument' to steal LPG.
“Some of the transporters were caught red handed,” the official said.
“We went by the CAG report, which found that the 100 kg weight tolerance was on the high side and asked to reduce to 40 kg,” he said.
The official said electronic weigh bridges have been installed at all the bottling plants. This was, however, refuted by the truckers.
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