August 27, 2008
V Ayyappan TNN
Chennai: Weekend getaways could have been history for Chennaiites if the petroleum dealers’ association had their way in closing down fuel bunks on Sundays and restrict their working hours. Though a total closure of fuel stations is a bad idea on any day, the impact would have been farreaching if they took off on Sundays. With the inbound tourist season about to begin next month, tour operators in the city were a worried lot when the Tamil Nadu Petroleum Dealers’ Association announced its decision. With the government now stepping in, they are breathing easy. Terming the move as “absurd” and “irrational”, tour operators say closure of bunks on Sundays would only have encouraged hoarding. “It would have led to strange and risky situations, such as drivers storing diesel in barrels and cans inside tourist buses,” says A Afsal managing director of Parveen Travels. “Tour operators cannot idle their vehicles and cancel tour schedules just because fuel pumps will not be open on Sundays. So if such a situation ever arises, tour operators will have no option but to hoard fuel to ensure that their to
urs do not get disrupted,” he added. Except the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation, which has a storage tank and a direct supply from Indian Oil Corporation, private players in the tourism department do not have the space to store fuel. So they would have ended up storing it in the buses. But “that’s hardly a good idea because foreign tourists may not like to travel in a coach that has a barrel or can of diesel in the passenger area. They are very particular about ambience and may not like the stench,” says Akshaya India’s operations incharge Suresh. “The fuel dealers’ proposal came as a shock to us because we deal mostly with foreign tourists. It is near absurd to tell them that we have had to cancel or re-arrange a schedule because of shortage of fuel,” he adds. “Moreover, majority of the companies have tours that run for 10 to 15 days. So there is a possibility that a vehicle may get stranded if the tour is within the state. If it is an inter-state tour, a vehicle returning to into Tamil Nadu would have had to tank up before crossing the border,” says Suresh. With the festival season about to begin, tour operators are now contemplating what measures they could take to minimise the impact of the shortage of fuel.
V Ayyappan TNN
Chennai: Weekend getaways could have been history for Chennaiites if the petroleum dealers’ association had their way in closing down fuel bunks on Sundays and restrict their working hours. Though a total closure of fuel stations is a bad idea on any day, the impact would have been farreaching if they took off on Sundays. With the inbound tourist season about to begin next month, tour operators in the city were a worried lot when the Tamil Nadu Petroleum Dealers’ Association announced its decision. With the government now stepping in, they are breathing easy. Terming the move as “absurd” and “irrational”, tour operators say closure of bunks on Sundays would only have encouraged hoarding. “It would have led to strange and risky situations, such as drivers storing diesel in barrels and cans inside tourist buses,” says A Afsal managing director of Parveen Travels. “Tour operators cannot idle their vehicles and cancel tour schedules just because fuel pumps will not be open on Sundays. So if such a situation ever arises, tour operators will have no option but to hoard fuel to ensure that their to
urs do not get disrupted,” he added. Except the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation, which has a storage tank and a direct supply from Indian Oil Corporation, private players in the tourism department do not have the space to store fuel. So they would have ended up storing it in the buses. But “that’s hardly a good idea because foreign tourists may not like to travel in a coach that has a barrel or can of diesel in the passenger area. They are very particular about ambience and may not like the stench,” says Akshaya India’s operations incharge Suresh. “The fuel dealers’ proposal came as a shock to us because we deal mostly with foreign tourists. It is near absurd to tell them that we have had to cancel or re-arrange a schedule because of shortage of fuel,” he adds. “Moreover, majority of the companies have tours that run for 10 to 15 days. So there is a possibility that a vehicle may get stranded if the tour is within the state. If it is an inter-state tour, a vehicle returning to into Tamil Nadu would have had to tank up before crossing the border,” says Suresh. With the festival season about to begin, tour operators are now contemplating what measures they could take to minimise the impact of the shortage of fuel.
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