The inter-state transport of bulk LPG, blamed for the recent fire tragedy in Chala, Kannur, can be completely avoided if the oil companies come to an agreement to share the product, it is claimed.
Of the 90 load of bulk LPG transported daily from the Kochi Refinery, functioning under the BPCL, just about 50 are supplied to bottling plants in Kerala and the rest are sent to BPCL’s own plants in Tamil Nadu.
At the same time, the IOC bottling plant at Udayamperoor, here, just about 2 km away from BPCL’s Ambalamugal refinery, has to depend on the Mangalore and Chennai refineries for two-third of its bulk LPG requirement. The IOC plant gets only about 25 loads from Kochi Refinery.
“If the BPCL refinery here can fully meet the IOC bottling plant’s requirement and IOC’s refinery in Chennai can supply bulk LPG to BPCL’s bottling plants in Tamilnadu, we can completely stop inter-state transportation of the cooking gas,” said B. Harikumar, secretary, Kerala State Tanker Lorry Workers’ Union.
This arrangement would bring state government the sales tax, which it is losing now, as both BPCL and IOC undertake the inter-state transportation as stock transfers. “Both companies are also losing more for transportation than they are gaining by way of taxes,” he said. The state government stands to gain further by way of road taxes too.
Of the 1,300 tankers supplying bulk LPG, only four belong to Kerala. All the remaining tankers are either registered in Karnataka or Tamil Nadu. There will also be better control for state government on tanker lorries.
Interestingly, this arrangement was suggested at a recent meeting convened by the district administration, but the oil companies did not favour it.