Incident Reports

Jana Samsad: Tanker laborers organize agitation | टेंकर मजदूर आन्दोलित |

2017-02-17

Nepal

Oil tanker operators refused to transport gasoline on Friday as they intensified their protest against a recent amendment to the Petroleum Products Transportation Bylaw which requires them to maintain a minimum fleet size of five tankers. They have threatened to stop importing fuel totally if their demand was not addressed by February 27 and have submitted a 15-point demand to Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC). Bishwo Aryal, general secretary of the Federation of Nepal Petroleum Transport Entrepreneurs, said tanker drivers did not load fuel at Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) depots on Friday. One of their key demands is that the stipulation concerning the minimum number of tankers should be cancelled, said NOC. A number of oil tanker operators own one to two tankers. “The operators have been demanding that the provision be scrapped to allow small operators in the business,” said NOC Spokesperson Bhanubhakta Khanal. He added that tanker operators had also asked for a revision of the range of ‘claimable loss’ or leakage while transporting fuel. As per the new bylaw, tanker operators will face action if the quantity of their oil cargo differs by more than 0.25 percent upon arrival at NOC depots after being transported from IOC depots. For instance, if a tanker is carrying 20 kilolitres of gasoline, the claimable loss is 50 litres. This means that if the shipment is short by this amount, tanker operators will not face action. However, if the discrepancy exceeds this limit, they will be fined an amount double the prevailing per unit price of fuel, states the bylaw. Meanwhile, tanker operators have also asked NOC to set the temperature shrinkage coefficient as per the international standard. Currently, NOC has set the coefficient at 1.06 for petrol and at 0.75 for diesel and kerosene. According to Khanal, the temperature coefficient is the amount of the shrinkage per 1,000 litres of the cargo for each 1 Celsius degree drop in temperature. “NOC has been using the coefficient to find the difference in volume of petroleum products that tankers receive from IOC depots and the volume which exists while unloading their cargo at NOC.” Sitaram Pokharel, director of NOC, said they had been discussing the demands placed by tanker operators. “We have asked the board to resolve the issues as soon as possible,” Pokharel said. विभिन्न १५ बुदे माग राख्दै नेपाल यातायात स्वतन्त्र मजदूर संगठन टेंकर क्षेत्र केन्द्रीय समन्वय समितिले आन्दोलन सुरु गरेका छन् । आन्दोलनका कारण शुक्रबार देशभरिका तेल डिपोहरुमा इन्धन लोड तथा अनलोड भएनन् । उनीहरुका माग सुनुवाइ नभए फाल्गुन १५ गतेबाट अनिश्चितकालिन इन्धन लोड र अनलोड बन्द गर्ने समेत चेतावनी दिएका छन्। निगमले माघ २५ गते छलफलमा बोलाए पनि समस्या समाधानमा गम्भीर नभएको, वार्ताको बहाना बनाएर अल्मलाउने र मजदूरहरुमाथि शोषण गर्न खोजिएको हुँदा आन्दोलनमा उभिनु परेको संगठनको भनाइ छ ।
Details and Impacts
Violent / Non-violent Nonviolent
Onesided / Twosided Onesided
Collective / Interpersonal Collective
Primary Form Strike/Bandh
Primary Cause Labor disputes, not including civil servants
Actor 1 - Number of people NA
Actor 1 - Affiliations Labor organization, trade unions and other organizations based on economic demands
Actor 1 - Youth na
Actor 2 - Number of people NA
Actor 2 - Affiliation (Target) Local authorities (incl VDC, district, gov. line agencies at local level except education and health)
Actor 2 - Youth na
Local Newspaper - Jhapa , National/Online Media

0 Comments