[ghodlur]

HPCL opened a Kerb side Pump at the highest motorable road in the world at the Leh-Khardungla road making the fuel now available to the remotest part of Jammu & kashmir state. The KSB is located at an altitude of 15300 feet above MSL making it the highest fuel dispensing station in the world. Inaugurated by the Indian Army & Border roads, the temperature during inauguration was minus 15 deg C. HPCL is on a mission to install 125 such KSB's to facilitate the Army & Border Road with 60 such stations already completed. More details in the link.

State-owned Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd ( HPCL ) has opened a petrol pump at world's highest motorable road in Leh to make available fuel to the remotest part of Jammu and Kashmir. HPCL inaugurated a Kerb Side Pump (KSP) at a height of 15,300 feet at South Pullu on Leh-Khardungla road, which is the world's highest motorable road.

Read more at: http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/bus...ce=ref_article

[.anshuman]

This must be of help for Army and BRO, as they will not have to cross the Khardung-la pass to get fuel. I am not sure how their logistics work.

Good to have more Fuel Bunks in the region, but for travelers to Ladakh this may not be a big help as Leh is not that far from this place. Most of us travel with ample reserves of fuel. I tank up at every possible opportunity(70L) and keep a 20/30L reserve in a canister, so that gives me a range of 900-1200 kms in my XUV-500.

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by .anshuman

This must be of help for Army and BRO, as they will not have to cross the Khardung-la pass to get fuel. I am not sure how their logistics work.

Good to have more Fuel Bunks in the region, but for travelers to Ladakh this may not be a big help as Leh is not that far from this place. Most of us travel with ample reserves of fuel. I tank up at every possible opportunity(70L) and keep a 20/30L reserve in a canister, so that gives me a range of 900-1200 kms in my XUV-500.

South Pullu is on Leh side. So it will help people going towards Nubra. Now if they had made the pump on North Pullu, it would have made more sense for Nubra people.

[sgiitk]

Good, but one must question - is it to meet the demand, or for PR purposes?

[nishsingh]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Good, but one must question - is it to meet the demand, or for PR purposes?

Looks to be owing to a government incentive to install more pumps in far-off places. From the article -
"HPCL's Chandigarh Direct Sales Regional Office services a major share of the Army and Border Roads business and was assigned with the task of installation of 125 KSPs, mostly in challenging terrains."

[topedgemonk]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

The KSB is located at an altitude of 15300 feet above MSL

Its probably more for PR. But PR is more effective if they don't put in a lower estimate of the height. Bits of memorabalia that you buy from there say 18,300 ft, but wiki says about ~17500 ft. Certainly higher than 15300ft.

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Good, but one must question - is it to meet the demand, or for PR purposes?

There is no civilian demand as such(they fill up at Leh), but, at any given time, there is a lot of BRO and Army presence at South Pullu. They have to get fuel from Leh, which is about 1.5-2 hours (2 way) esp for heavier vehicles.

Secondly, the Leh main fuel station sees a lot of rush, this way, trucks from Kashmir to Nubra can simply take the outer road without going to Leh city and fill up here.

[pyrodrive]

People from nubra valley will have to travel a little less now to get fuel. But most of the folks going up khardungla and beyond are likely to fill up at Leh itself.
I saw a fuel pump being setup near zingzingbar on the manali leh section in sept this year. Anyone else noticed?

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by pyrodrive

People from nubra valley will have to travel a little less now to get fuel. But most of the folks going up khardungla and beyond are likely to fill up at Leh itself.
I saw a fuel pump being setup near zingzingbar on the manali leh section in sept this year. Anyone else noticed?

No.
They won't come here. They did not even go to Diskit to fill fuel when the pump was functional. When you get siphoned army diesel for 20-30% less than market price, why would they go to the fuel pump?

[ToyotaFan]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

There is no civilian demand as such(they fill up at Leh), but, at any given time, there is a lot of BRO and Army presence at South Pullu. They have to get fuel from Leh, which is about 1.5-2 hours (2 way) esp for heavier vehicles.

Secondly, the Leh main fuel station sees a lot of rush, this way, trucks from Kashmir to Nubra can simply take the outer road without going to Leh city and fill up here.

Leh has 2 other petrol pumps (one in the manali road and the other on the airport road) which are not that busy. I believe having a petrol pump at diskit (non functional) or anywhere in the nubra valley would have been better for civilians. People taking the direct route to pangong (via Wari la) and onwards to manali have to travel 500kms without refuelling which can lead to range anxiety especially true for small cars with small tanks and less space to store fuel.
This looks to be an initiative for the benefit of the army and the associated PR helps the initiative make logistical sense.

[ani_meher]

I saw a closed down Petrol pump in Diskit. I wonder whether it was closed due to lack of demand, and hence the new one was opened near South Pallu, not North Pallu.

Good move, even if only for PR. Now if only they open one in the Tso Kar - Tso Moriri patch.