rpminz

Today is the 6th of November 2008 and I am posting this blog after 4 years! That's a long time, but I really did not believe it was useful. Maybe, it is just a means of expressing myself.

Over the last 4 years things have really changed. In 2006 I started a petrol pump in Ranchi called the Cosy Corner Fuel Centre. It was constructed by Hindustan Petrleum Corporation Ltd. Prior to 2006 I was running a small open air restaurant with a rustic look that is called a 'dhaba'. It was started in 2001. Initially we, myself and my family were selling ice cream and cold drinks. Later we added chinese items such as Vegetable Chow, Chicken Chow and Chicken Chilli. At that time we had hired two young persons to do the cooking of these dishes and serving them. It caught on as there was no such similar joint within a radius of two kilometers. We later constructed a small closed restaurant with asbestos sheet roofing. Things started picking up and gradually we introduced more chinese and Indian dishes and increased the number of cooks and waiters. We occasionally got some orders of catering for marriage parties. But in 2006 the restaurant had to be broken down to make way for the petrol pump. I took up this new vwnture with some trepidation because the investment required was pretty high but I could manage to get a cash credit account of Rs.10 Lakhs from the State Bank of India. More was requird but I could not mortgage my tribal land according to the Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act. Some relatives and friends, however, pitched in with more money. Now I have been running the petrol pump for two years but I have suffered huge losses that have accummulated to nearly Rs.10 Lakhs. This is attributed to short supply being made by transporters who adopt various ingenious methods to pilfer the petrol/diesel in transit. The Petroleum company does not help in any way by checking the transport system nor by installing flow meters to measure the actual volume of the product delivered. As a result those dealers who adopt 'unfair' means to make up the shortfall prosper but people like me who can not adopt 'unfair' means by paying bribes end up suffering losses. The oil companies seem to be hand-in-gloves with the transporters because they are not allowing me to instal my own flow meter to measure the volume of oil actually delivered. I have also file a case against the company officials under the Right to Information Act that is coming up for hearing on the 17 Nov 2008 in New Delhi. Let us see what happens.