GST chaos at Nhava supply base
Introduced on July 1 the long-awaited Goods and Services Tax (GST) was supposed to make life easier for business at large.
But at ONGC it's proving a major headache for the company's Nhava supply base off Mumbai which supplies its fleet of rigs and platforms in the Mumbai Offshore. ONGC sources complain no offshore supplies moved out from Nhava between July 1 and 4 and lay the blame for this squarely on colleagues managing the supply base.
"They (Nhava bosses) were either completely unprepared for GST or completely incompetent," we hear. "Supplies are going out in a trickle since July 5 and that too for eight ONGC rigs only but not for the 20 contract rigs." Yet drillers claim the real picture is worse.
"Other than emergency supplies such as food boxes nothing is moving out," said a driller on July 11. "And even these food boxes need special clearance." Rig and platform operations will be hit if this is not sorted soon.
"Instead of just the rig manager," he adds, "now we need the signature of the general manager operations and the location manager." On average two or three supply vessels leave Nhava daily for 28 rigs and nearly a dozen process platforms.