Jha also told the parliamentary committee that the NOC management was forced to appoint over 205 cadres of different political parties as temporary staff at the corporation. The doling out of free fuel and employing hundreds of staffers that are of no use to the corporation eventually add to its financial burden. Many public enterprises have collapsed in the past, unable to bear the burden of overstaffing under political pressure. It is disheartening to learn that political leaders have not learnt any lesson from past experience and continue to repeat the same old mistakes. And NOC continues to bleed, thanks to both political interference and managerial fecklessness.
This piece of bad news could not have come at a worse time. Students and political parties in the opposition have taken to the streets to protest the recent fuel price hike effected by NOC. Agreed that corruption and mismanagement alone haven´t caused the price hike, but they certainly are a factor behind it. Had NOC been able to plug its leaks and address the rampant corruption, it would have been in a much better position to absorb any jolts in the price of crude. Moreover, such news undermines NOC´s credibility and ultimately its authority to raise domestic prices in line with international price trends.
A lot of ink has been used up over the question of reforms at NOC. But it now appears that NOC is beyond redemption – for political reasons as well as the vested interests of NOC management and staff. There are only two ways to deal with this chronic mess: Either privatize NOC altogether and let it fend for itself, or simply deregulate the import and distribution of petroleum products and force NOC to compete fiercely for market survival. Safeguarding the NOC monopoly will only worsen the problem over the long run.
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