Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Arifin Tasrif has urged industry players in commercial business to use non-subsidized diesel fuel after he came across industries that used subsidized diesel fuel.
“A lot of subsidized diesel fuel is used for industrial activities. This causes a scarcity of subsidized diesel fuels in the community,” Tasrif noted in a statement
Over the past week, the minister had conducted inspections in several areas from Kalimantan to Sumatra to monitor the service and distribution of fuel in the community.
During the inspection, he ensured that the fuel stock at the gas station was sufficient during Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr this year. In fact, the long line of vehicles queuing up for fuel was slowly reduced.
Currently, there is a fairly large price change since globally, the price of oil, which is the raw material for fuel, has increased significantly, Tasrif noted.
“This cannot be controlled because world oil prices are currently increasing very high. We must be able to allocate this fuel subsidy while disciplining the community to buy fuels based on their rights,” he stated.
The government will strive to control the sale of diesel fuel by taking firm steps against anyone found wrongfully using subsidized fuel.
The government also issued an appeal by affixing a sticker forbidding trucks that are not entitled to use subsidized diesel fuel at gas stations as part of the steps to disseminate information to the community.
State-owned oil company PT Pertamina also strives to control the use of subsidized fuel by necessitating the use of a control card for every subsidized diesel fuel purchase. Later, the control card will be used to record the purchase of subsidized diesel.
The card includes the vehicle registration number and the type of vehicle. For every purchase of subsidized diesel at a gas station, the officer will record the type of vehicle, license plate number, and the number of purchases.
Another step taken is to regulate the purchasing hours of subsidized diesel services at gas stations as well as prohibit queues before these service hours. If there is a misuse of subsidized diesel fuel, then the police and regional Transportation Service will take strict action against the perpetrators of the abuse and will impose sanctions on the operators and distributors.
Another effort is to monitor the fuel stock through the Command Center. In coordination with law enforcement and local governments, Pertamina has also formed a Ramadan & Eid al-Fitr (RAFi) task force and prepared various additional services in the form of standby gas stations, standby tank cars, motorists, pocket gas stations, and rest areas equipped with health facilities for the Eid al-Fitr homecoming.
Source: Antara News