Kathmandu, January 20
The state-owned Nepal Oli Corporation is preparing to distribute more than 1.14 billion rupees, earned last year through the sale of petroleum products to the public and other customers, among its employees as bonus.
A source said the NOC is preparing to distribute the bonus after it became debt-free this year.
The NOC claims that bonus distribution to employees is in keeping with its regulations. Last year, it had allocated Rs 900 million for bonus, though it did not distribute the sum as Finance and Supplies ministries told it not to give away the money without paying loan. It now has around two billion rupees allocated for bonus.
Notably, NOC seeks funding from the government whenever it incurs losses. However, if it is making profit, the oil monopoly distributes the profit among its employees, citing governing regulations.
At present, NOC has 422 permanent employees. A large number of employees are working on contract and daily wage bases.
The sum allocated for bonus suggests that NOC allots Rs 1.5 lakh rupees as bonus for each employee every month.
Yearly, this adds a burden of Rs 40 million to the oil monopoly. While importing petroleum products, it collects tax in the form of infrastructure. But it does not spend the tax on infrastructure development. Instead, it keeps the money as profit. It allocates a certain percentage of this tax for bonus. A parliamentary committee has concluded that NOC has been misappropriating money by distributing money to employees.
NOC employees have moved the Supreme Court against authorities for stopping bonus distribution. The court is yet to issue its verdict in the case. The staff are certain that the verdict will be in their favour as employees of the state-owned Banijya Bank received bonus after the court issued a verdict in their favour, though the bank concerned was incurring losses.
NOC has been drawing fire for focusing on bonus distribution by jacking up oil prices. Stakeholders say bonus distribution does not make sense as customers have been facing problems in getting petroleum products because of a weak distribution distribution system.
The monopoly says the sale of petrol bring it a profit of Rs 1.33/litre, diesel sale causes a loss of Rs 1.5/litre, while the sale of cooking gas and kerosene brings in profit of the Rs 78.24/cylinder and Rs 15/litre, respectively.
Weak infrastructure is affecting the performance of NOC. It has a storage capacity that can take care of Nepal’s oil needs for just five days. The public feel that the monopoly should not distribute bonus to its employees without developing infrastructure.
Despite this, NOC is preparing to distribute more money to its employees in the form of transport allowance, citing governing regulations. The source said it is planning to give each employee Rs 4,500/month.
On his part, Gopal Bahadur Khadka, executive director, NOC, says they will not distribute bonus without developing infrastructure. Right now, NOC is working to increase the oil storage capacity, he says, claiming that the monopoly will distribute bonus only after completing this project.
