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 The Karnataka government’s decision to allow its buses, mainly those belonging to Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), to refuel at private fuel stations, is not practical, opine petroleum dealers.

With the Centre withdrawing rebate on diesel given to bulk consumers such as KSRTC and BMTC, Transport Minister R Ashoka, on Monday said that the government has given its approval for its transport corporations to refuel at private bunks.

However, bunk owners across the City feel that the government’s decision might affect the common man.
“As the owner of the bunk, I am obviously happy that there will be bulk business.

But, what happens with such customers is that there is no guarantee of them visiting the bunk again unlike my regular bike or car owners, who are the ones to get affected in the process,” K Reddy, the owner of a bunk in Seshadripuram said.

Another petrol bunk owner in Indiranagar said that this might be a good idea for KSRTC buses on the highways where the bunks are designed to accommodate such heavy vehicles.  “In the City, I do not know how this will work without causing inconvenience to the public.”

Ashoka, on Monday said: “With the rebate on diesel given to bulk consumers withdrawn, it makes no difference for us, if we refuel from private bunks or in-house stations. In fact, we will be saving by refueling our buses en route.”

Speaking to Deccan Herald, Bhushan Narang of Karnataka Petroleum Dealers’ Association said: “This is one of the most impractical decisions. The oil marketing companies will not lose or gain in terms of sales, as our net sales will remain the same. But, the move is impractical.”

It will affect quality

Sources in KSRTC and BMTC also concede that refuelling at private pumps has its own practical difficulties.
“One of the difficulties would be the lack of monitoring of refuelling. Also, the quality and quantity of fuel will vary from bunk to bunk impacting performance of buses.

This will be a challenge for the KSRTC, NWKRTC and NEKRTC, which provide inter-district and inter-State services. Buses belonging to these corporations have to be refuelled in places other than Bangalore also,” a source said.

To overcome these problems various RTCs have urged the government that some private outlets be earmarked for refuelling their buses.

However, the proposal has been turned down on the grounds that certain practical difficulties may crop up at such outlets.

Sources in the oil marketing companies said that RTCs had requested them to link a few fuel outlets directly to their depots.

But, the request has not been acceded to. The RTCs have now stopped bulk purchase of diesel, the sources said.