Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) on Wednesday officially launched security locking systems to secure oil tankers in a bid to control theft and leakage in transit. NOC imports all its oil from Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) depots in India.

The security devices were installed on 140 tankers at IOC’s Siliguri depot on Wednesday. The move will benefit both NOC and tanker operators, said NOC Acting Managing Director Sushil Bhattarai.

The security locking system is a specially designed safety measure that is being implemented by IOC in India. Although the state-owned oil monopoly has long been mulling to install the security system, the plan was put on hold due to various reasons. NOC has been using the newly launched locking system with the support of the Indian oil supplier.

Bhattarai said that henceforth, tanker entrepreneurs would have to install the locking system to import fuel from India. “NOC will scrap the licence of tanker entrepreneurs who do not have the system installed,” he said.

According to him, NOC will be launching the security system on tankers originating from IOC’s Gonda and Banthara depots in the next two weeks. “Similarly, we will install the device on tankers leaving the Raxaul depot next month,” Bhattarai said. “Within the next three months, the system will be  installed on all tankers used for importing fuel.”

As per NOC, the master keys to the security locks will be held by NOC and IOC depots. After a tanker is loaded with fuel at IOC’s depot, IOC officials will put the security lock on it. When the tanker arrives in Nepal, NOC officials will unlock it and unload the cargo.

NOC spokesperson Birendra Kumar Goit said that, in the first stage, the locking system would be installed on tankers bringing fuel from India. In the second stage, tankers transporting fuel within the country will also be secured in the same way.

According to NOC, the locking system costs Rs25,000 each. For now, IOC has agreed to provide the locks free of cost to Nepal. According to Goit, IOC will be providing 2,300 such locks to NOC.

Around 1,800 tankers are currently being used to transport fuel from India to Nepal. Goit said that NOC planned to put two locks on each of the three compartments in a tanker in the future. “IOC has agreed to provide another 25,000 devices,” he said.