Police vehicles adopt the Xtrapower route to fuel up in Dakshina Kannada

MANGALORE: Dakshina Kannada district police has found itself a smart way to fuel up. Drivers of all 150 department vehicles at the command of superintendent of police Sharanappa SD from Sunday are part of Indian Oil's Xtrapower fleet card programme that does away with the need for them to maintain indent books each time they fuel up. Instead, all they need to do is use their Xtrapower Fleet card, fuel up, sign the receipt and be on their way.
Having undertaken a close study of the fuel consumption pattern of each of the vehicles with the district police for the past six months, fuel limit has been fixed for the respective vehicles. The district police on an average runs up a fuel bill of Rs 8-9/lakh per month and this can go up to Rs 10 lakh during elections or special bandobast during law and order situations. The cards can be used at specified bunks of IOC where the fleet cards are accepted.
Having taken up this exercise in his previous posting as SP at Gadag where 100 department vehicles were brought under a similar card programme offered by BPCL, Sharanappa said this is a more technologically advanced manner of managing logistics. "The existing system of fuel indent books requires lot of paper work and utilisation of manpower to follow up the bills and clear them with respective bunks of oil marketing companies," he said.
Under the fleet card programme, vehicle can fill up to a specified amount. If the amount is exhausted due to unforeseen circumstances, the amount can easily be topped-up, Sharanappa told TOI. Additionally, district police has insisted that each of the bunks where district police vehicles will fuel up have CCTV cameras fixed to facilitate easier cross verification and also ensure there is no pilferage of the fuel that goes in to the department's vehicles.
With the fleet card offering loyalty points, the department stands to gain in that they can cash in on the points, a move that will result in reduction in the overall fuel bill. Added advantage, he said is that in case the vehicle needs to go out of DK district or another state on official duty, the fleet card can be used in any IOC outlet where these cards are accepted. "This way we can more accurately keep tabs on fuel consumption of each vehicle," SP said.