BENGALURU: Car running low on fuel? You don’t have to queue up at the petrol pump anymore. In what could be the latest addition to door-to-door service, a Bengaluru-based startup has started delivery of fuel particularly diesel in several parts of the city. Customers can visit website mypetrolpump.com or call 7880504050 to book an order for diesel. However, minimum order should be 20 litres and they charge `99 for any order up to 100 litres. Customers have to pay Re 1 per litre above the fuel price for above 100 litres.
At present, My Petrol Pump’s door-to-door service is operational between 6am and 8pm in areas like HSR Layout, Koramangala, Bellandur, BTM Layout and Bommanahalli.
My Petrol Pump is providing doorstep fuel delivery to schools, hospitals, apartments and commercial establishments running diesel generators as well as to vehicle owners.
Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan had on April 21 tweeted that though they have been exploring home delivery options for petroleum products, it hasn’t been able to take off from the proposal stage mainly because of resistance from petroleum dealers.
Petroleum dealers are worried that their business will be affected and have safety concerns. They claim that fuel supply by a private firm to doorsteps is illegal and dangerous. The company-Mypetrolpump, however, maintains that they are following all the requisite safety norms.
“My Petrol Pump gets fuel from authorized dealers of oil companies near to your location, We have developed and follow strict quality assurance programme to ensure every drop of fuel is checked for right quality before it gets loaded into refueller for delivery. We do not purchase or stock fuel prior to delivery. Fuel is sourced only upon receiving the pre-booking from customers,” the website said.
Officials of ANB Fuels Private Limited, which runs the firm were unavailable to comment.
A K Yadav, Joint Chief Controller of Explosives, Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO), said: “We have not given permission to any firms to operate door-to-door delivery of fuel. It is also unsafe since it is not adhering to any safety norms. The state police should take action against the firm”.
Suresh Kumar, an executive committee member of the Consortium of Indian Petroleum Dealers said: “This concept was failed in the US and also did not get the approval of explosives department because of the safety issues. Though the idea is good, safety is a concern”.
However, the website mypetrolpump.com said: “Our operators are IRTE trained in safe handling of fuel”.