Bengaluru: For all those tired of long queues at the petrol pump, a startup in Bengaluru has started the delivery of fuel on a door-to-door basis in several parts of the city.
My Petrol Pump is the next cool addition to delivery options. Customers can log on to mypetrolpump.com or call 7880504050 to order fuel, particularly diesel and get it delivered at their doorstep without going through the laborious task of queuing up at petrol pumps. The minimum order should be 20 litres and they charge Rs 99 for delivery for any order up to 100 litres. For orders above 100 litres, customers would have to pay Re 1 per litre, over and above the actual fuel price.
According to a report in the New Indian Express, they operate between 6 am and 8pm in the following areas – HSR Layout, Koramangla, bellandur, BTM Layout and Bommanahalli. It delivers to schools, hospitals, vehicle owners, apartments and commercial establishments that run diesel generators.
However, this brand new startup is already feeling the heat from the industry. On April 21, Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan had tweeted that although the ministry has been looking at home delivery of petroleum products, it remains in the proposal stage due to protests from petroleum dealers. Petroleum dealers have claimed that their business will be adversely affected by such projects and have also voiced their safety concerns as they think fuel delivery to doorsteps by a private firm is illegal and might be dangerous.
My Petrol Pump, however, claimed they have been following all the 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 startup could not be reached for their comments.
However, 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”.
According to Suresh Kumar, an executive committee member of the Consortium of Indian Petroleum Dealers this concept was failed to work in the US due to safety concerns.
However, the website of mypetrolpump.com read “Our operators are IRTE trained in safe handling of fuel”.
