Mangalore : Dakshina Kannada Udupi Petroleum Dealers Association (DKUPDA) has urged the Oil Marketing Companies to expand the dealer network through the length and breadth of India but not at the cost of existing dealers and make them unviable.

Speaking at the press meet on March 12, Tuesday former president of DKUPDA, Satish N Kamath said that the companied must be strengthened and viable economically and ensure that dealers provide good fuel and good service and that the employees are taken care of well by paying the staff well and state of th art automation is put in place.

He also said that the petroleum companies spend Lakhs of rupees in each district on advertisements inviting applications for dealerships. They also charge heavily for every application too. The gullible applicants are given rosy pictures about the working of petrol pumps.

The land is leased to the company on long leases at very nominal rents and the dealers are made to spend huge on building, compound wall, generator, stocks etc.

Today most of the recently opened petrol pumps are shutting down due to lack of staffs, pilferage through tankers, losses due to evaporation, high cost of power and generator power, finally lack of projected sales. Hence the association urged the companied to take action against those officers who have got promotions for putting up these pumps and wasting companies’ scarce resources in turn the tax payers money.

The ministry of petroleum has given clear directions to the OMC’s through a letter dated 25-4-2011 to withdraw all advertisement, make a feasibility study and put petrol pumps in areas where the guidelines like volumes, distance norms are met.

He also said that the company must order the petrol pump in State to be automated, so that at any point of time, details will be visible to the dealers, company and even to the customers.

DKUPDA President Sujeerguthu Aithappa Alva and former president K V Shenoy were present at the press meet.