Tanker owners have accused officials of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) of overcharging them when getting their oil tankers calibrated. 

They said that they were being made to pay IRs 12,000 to IRs 16,000 even though the fixed charge is IRs 2,200. They also said that they were given a receipt for only the set amount and not what they actually pay.

Tanker owners have stopped getting their vehicles calibrated for the past few days in protest. IOC calibrates Nepali petroleum tankers once a year. “Following the protest, IOC said that they would settle the issue in a few days,” said an entrepreneur.

Meanwhile, Chandiraj Karki, branch officer of Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) at Amlekhgunj, said they had been receiving an increasing number of complaints from tanker entrepreneurs. “We have initiated a move to resolve the problem,” he said. 

IOC started recalibrating Nepali tankers stating that their capacity was higher than what is specified. According to the entrepreneurs, IOC has been providing 40-150 litres less per tanker citing their larger size. This has led to additional losses of Rs 30 million per month for loss-ridden NOC. 

Most Nepali petroleum carriers have blamed IOC officials at the Raxaul depot for short measuring them. The Raxaul depot handles 70 percent of the country’s petroleum imports. 

“Around 40-50 tankers are calibrated per month, and most of them are found to be containing less petroleum than the quantity stated in the bill,” said Karki. 

Earlier, NOC officials had suspected cheating. Acco-rding to Karki, the Indian authorities agreed to go for re-calibration only after repeated disputes over the quantity of gasoline in the tankers. 

NOC statistics show that 150 tankers of gasoline are imported daily from the Raxaul depot. Considering an average loss of 85 litres per tanker and the cost at Rs 100 per litre, NOC has been suffering a loss of Rs 8,500 on each shipment.

“This amounts to total losses of Rs 1.27 million 

daily and more than Rs 31.87 million monthly,” said an NOC official at the Birgunj regional office.

Meanwhile, transporters have also blamed IOC officials of taking a bribe to fill up the tankers. 

According to them, they have been paying an additional Rs 1,700 per shipment to IOC officials for refilling their tankers.