With security situation worsening fast and safety measures far from being up to the mark, the transporters of petroleum products in the terrorism-hit country claim to have lost in not a distant past over a hundred of their vehicles, most of these falling in the hands of kidnappers.
According to haulers, during the last couple of years over 70 of their oil tankers were driven away by the kidnappers at their convenience, while 21 others got damaged irreparably in accidents. These ill-fated vehicles, the transporters claim, have inflicted losses to the tune of millions of rupees to the owners and contractors on account of the cost of vehicles and the transportable commodity.
A hauler told Pakistan Today that the average price of an oil tanker ranges between Rs 9.5 million and Rs 12 million depending on condition of the lorry.
While damages against the commodity burnt or spilled over in case of an accident or taken away by the kidnappers along with the vehicle are also calculated in millions. “A rough estimate shows that a tanker loaded with 40,000 liters of petrol is worth Rs 4.2 million,” said Mehboob Khan, APOTOA’s vice chairman. A vehicle of same capacity carrying furnace oil values Rs 3.3 million, Khan said.
The office-bearers of All Pakistan Oil Tankers Owners Association (APOTOA) claim to have lost over Rs 60 million on account of kidnapping and accidents since 2010.
“We have calculated our losses from over 70 vehicles snatched at Rs 40 million while the loss that we suffered due to 21 of our vehicles damaged in accidents stand at around Rs 19.728 million,” Hazrat Ali Afridi, senior vice chairman of APOTOA, told Pakistan Today.
For these huge losses, the APOTOA officials pointed fingers at the law enforcement agencies and the Pakistan State Oil (PSO). They accuse the police of conniving with the kidnappers and/or at least demanding huge sums for registering an FIR in case of kidnapping.
“The police are responsible for the kidnappings,” alleged Afridi who claims Sindh and Punjab are the two provinces where their oil tankers disappeared.
The senior vice chairman of APOTOA points at areas like Northern Bypass, the Link Road leading to National Highway till Nooriabad in Sindh and Tiranda Muhammad Panah and Muzaffargarh in Punjab where, he said, the kidnappings had taken place. “Most of, around 45, snatched tankers disappeared here (Sindh) while the rest were sent to Punjab,” Afridi said.
The haulier claims that the police, instead of helping the owners of lost vehicles, often demand five to six lac rupees as a bribe for lodging an FIR against the unknown kidnappers.
The PSO is slammed for not compensating the hauliers’ losses through accepting their insurance claims.
“The PSO does not accept our insurance claims amounting to at least Rs 60 million on account of vehicles kidnapped or faced with accidents,” Afridi said.
He said over Rs 19.728 million of their insurance claims were outstanding against the PSO on account of 21 vehicles that damaged in accidents during last couple of years.
Whereas the claims against kidnapped oil tankers account for Rs 40 million, said the APOTOA official, adding a safety committee of the PSO, which had no representation of hauliers and contractors, is said to have decided not to pay the claimed amount.
Afridi went on to accuse the “unscrupulous” officers in PSO of making unlawful deductions from their routine payments under fictitious heads like oil shortage caused by improper depth, temperature, seal break etc.
He alleged that the PSO, in connivance with insurance firms, was exploiting the hauliers and in some cases had received money from the latter without extending the same to the transporters.
The PSO, however, rejects these “accusations” outrightly as baseless.
A PSO spokesman told Pakistan today that the POL products, being transported for export purposes, were insured by the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) only and certain cases were “pending at their end”.
Secondly, he said the PSO provides compensation for accidents cases only in cases related to the domestic movement of POL products.
“There is no pending cases of 21 accidental tank lorries having amount of Rs 60 million,” the spokesperson denied, adding that there was no existence of any safety committee. However, a cross functional team “comprising senior management staff from different departments” was formulated which, after thorough deliberation on each case, decided on compensation for accident tankers.
“No unlawful deductions have been made under any fictitious heads,” the spokesman said.
The spokesman also denied “accusation” against the PSO of having received the insurance amount from the concerned insurance firm but not forwarding the same to the transporters as “baseless”. “Baseless is what the PSO is saying, we have all documentary proofs in hand,” said Afridi. He said all other Oil Manufacturing Companies (OMCs) were accepting the haulier’s insurance claims against kidnappings and accidents except the PSO.
“Shell, Caltex, Overseas, Byco and all other OMCs accept the insurance claims for kidnappings, but the PSO,” he claimed, adding they were in close contact with the contractors to devise a future strategy to tackle the issue.
