VISAKHAPATNAM: Civil Aviation minister P Ashok Gajapati Raju on Saturday inaugurated the Visakhapatnam automation initiative of Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) at Indian Oil Fuel Station of G Ramayya and Sons in the city. The initiative for full automation of IOCL, is to maximise customer satisfaction and transparency in the operation of the retail outlets. The full automation refers to complete mechanisation in the petrol pump operation starting from unloading of products to nozzle delivery of customers’ vehicles.
On the occasion, the minister said that the smart petrol pumps initiative would be a feather in the cap of Visakhapatnam which will be one of the smart cities of the country. The full automation initiative ensures that customers get automated printed bill along with transparent and quick service. It would also benefit the dealers in increasing the confidence levels among customers about the product, easy management of the delivery units, safety and other facilities, including accounting of stocks, sales, accounts and transactions. IOCL general manager (Telangana and Andhra Pradesh) UP Singh along with general manager (retail development) MD Kumar and general manager (retail sales) SK Sharma from the IOCL head office attended the function where 23 IOCL retail outlets with BS-IV product supply, were declared fully automated. Across the country, the IOCL has automated more than 7,700 retail outlets during the last fiscal and works are in progress to automate another 2,300 outlets by March 2016. In AP 286 retail outlets are fully automated as on Saturday. However, Visakhapatnam is the 36th fully automated city in the country.