NOC reluctant to implement reforms

KATHMANDU, June 24:

State-owned oil monopoly, Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC), has made little progress in bringing in reforms in the petroleum sector though it has been nearly one and a half years since the High Level Committee led by then lawmaker Bhim Acharya submitted its report seeking reforms.

The committee had recommended the corporation to maintain transparency on several issues, said an official at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies which is responsible for overseeing the corporation.

NOC’s management has been saying that they have made dozens of changes after the report was submitted, he said. “But, they are all meaningless.”

Transparency is not something to only talk about, he said, adding that the corporation should maintain transparency in its data but has made no headway in that direction.

The corporation often claims that it has done enough by reducing the number of temporary employees and those who were on contract, he said. “The actual reform should be in its readiness to maintain transparency which NOC can never do.”

The report had clearly mentioned that the petrol stations were cheating consumers by providing less quantity of fuel, he said. “But, NOC has done nothing to end this malpractice.”

Similarly, the report had said that the corporation had not formulated any clear policy regarding the security deposit that consumers pay while buying new gas cylinders, according to him. “But, consumers are facing the same kind of problems at present which they had been facing two years back.”

NOC has also done nothing to improve safety measures of bottling plants that largely lack basic safety requirements. The official also revealed that the corporation does not obey the ministry’s directives.

The other shortcoming of NOC is that it never stands by its decisions and often takes decisions but revokes them, he said, adding that it has also been constantly failing to supply products that are profitable.

The ministry official further said that the latest decision regarding the distribution of consumer cards and separating the colour of domestic and industrial cylinders have further proved that Nepal Oil Corporation is an office filled with inefficient employees.

Source: THT