HYDERABAD: Though the daily fuel price revision at petrol pumps is supposed to operate through an automation system without human interference at the pump level, it has come to light now that not all automated pumps are functional. Many of them are operated manually. Earlier, oil company officials had claimed that close to 90 per cent of the pumps in the city were automated.“All of them are not functional, there are issues of stabilisation,” said an oil company representative on the condition of anonymity. “We have been working on this for a year now. The dealers are new to the system, so it is taking time for full implementation. We are working on the pump-level and tank-level automation.
The most common issue we face is Internet connection related issues. It’s not like all of them are not working.” said the official.Since the introduction of daily fuel price revisions, Ravi K has to travel 40 km daily from the city to his petrol pump at Jinnaram to change the fuel rates manually. To avoid the travelling hassle, he now asks his pump boy to change the rates. “The boy makes mistakes while entering the paises. I then reach the pump and do the correction before 10 pm. This happens though not on a daily basis,” Ravi said.
On paper, Ravi’s fuel pump is automated but the system does not work forcing him to change the rates manually. The fuel rates were to change at all pumps by midnight but, after taking into account the potential problems non-automated dealers could face, the deadline was relaxed to 6 am.
“Most of the petrol pumps in the city are automated but for a lot of them the system does not work,” says Prashant, member of Telangana Petroleum Dealers Association. “If there is an error in fuel pricing, it gets corrected before 10 pm. No dealer would want a customer lodging a complaint of cheating. The mistakes are never intentional,” he added.
The daily price revision came into effect in the first week of July. Prior to its introduction, oil companies had held meetings with fuel dealers following their call for a nationwide strike. The dealers had pointed out to the oil company representatives that without proper implementation of technology, daily price revision system would not work. The companies assured the dealers that all their existing issues would be resolved one by one.