Several filling stations in Dehradun are shorn of basic facilities that the customers are entitled to. Things are more so in those located on the outskirts. Aside from the absence of the toilet, drinking water and other facilities, there is no air pressure gauge and pumps.

When our correspondent visited various such stations in the city on Saturday he found no board displaying the facilities the pump owners are bound to put as per the regulation.

At some of the filling stations, the toilets are located at places invisible to the customers. At many of them, they are found located right in the offices of the pump owners inaccessible to the customers, things that stand in sharp contradiction of the regulations enforced on the owners.

The same is the state of the drinking water facilities. When quizzed, the employees said that toilet and drinking water are available for the customers on their asking. At a petrol pump, near Chuna Bhatta, there was no air pressure gauge and pumps, an instance that shows how the pump owners are flouting the norms with impunity.

There are around 243 such filling stations affiliated to IOC in the state. Dehradun district has around 18 such pumps. Notably, there are several guidelines issued by the government to the petrol pump owners through the oil companies.  As per the guidelines, the retail dealer would provide air facility to the customers during operating hours of the outlet aside from clean toilets and drinking water in the pump premises to enable the customers to avail them. They need to ensure availability of telephone facilities in the campus. This aside, the dealers must have their names and mobile numbers prominently displayed to help the aggrieved customers contact them. 

A suggestion/complaint book must be maintained and made readily available to the customers on demand.  The dealer must check on daily basis the weights and measures department seal to ensure that the weight of the fuel being supplied is perfectly in accordance with the quantity for which the customers pay. In case weight and measures department seals are found tampered, sales through the concerned dispensing unit must be suspended forthwith and the matter must be reported immediately to the oil companies concerned. Sales must remain be suspended till the seals are replaced.

, on the ground, none of the guidelines is being implemented as they should be to felicitate the customers. And more surprisingly, there is no trace of the presence of the authorities which are supposed to have things checked and actions taken in case the guidelines are flouted.

Owner of a filling station located at Astley Hall said that they try to execute all the guidelines. “However, we find it very difficult to implement all of them. For instance, as per a new guideline, we are supposed to set up two toilets, for the male and the female customers. Space crunch is one of the reasons why we fail to implement it,” he added.

Aman Bisht, a customer, found buying fuel at a petrol pump on EC Road said that the government guidelines are not being displayed at most of the petrol pumps. “The government should take measures to enforce the guidelines strictly,” he demanded.

However, there are means to redress things. In case one finds that the pump he visits is bereft of the basic facilities he may call on toll free number- 1800-233-3555 to register his complaint.  Stating this, a senior IOC officer, Sarvesh Kumar Sinha had earlier said that the pumps are bound to put these facilities in place.