Dealers cry fuel shortage, oil firms deny

Dealers cry fuel shortage, oil firms deny
DH News Service, Bangalore:


Whom should people believe with regard to the fuel shortage in Bangalore? The petrol bunk dealers’ association says there is a shortage of 30 per cent of fuel, while oil companies maintain there is no dearth of petrol and diesel in the City.

For the last one month some petrol bunks in Bangalore have been selling only branded fuel on the grounds that normal petrol is not available.

President of the Karnataka Petrol Dealers’ Association, Bhushan Narang, reasons why some petrol bunks in the City are compelled to sell only branded petrol.

“The demand for fuel per day is 5 lakh litres while the supply is around 70 per cent. This is why some petrol bunks are compelled to sell branded fuel,” said Narang. He added that presently the oil companies supply around 3.5 lakh litres a day.

Officials attached to oil companies refuted the charges. “Due to panic-buying in the last four to five days in the wake of truckers’ strike and bundh, regular fuel would have exhausted in some petrol bunks, but there is no shortage as such,” said Srikant, the State level coordinator of public sector oil companies.

According to sources, the monthly consumption of petrol and diesel in Bangalore is around 4 crore litres and 5 crore litres respectively. Of the total supply of fuel, merely one-third is branded fuel viz. speed, premium and power. Meanwhile, the officials claim that there is no shortage of ordinary petrol and diesel, as the supply is regular and in accordance with City requirement.

Deputy Director of the Food and Civil Supplies Department A F Hafiz said he has not received any information regarding shortage of fuel. “If there was shortage, the oil companies would have informed our department and subsequently we would have passed on the information to the government,” said Hafiz.

Some petro-dealers on condition of anonymity said there was a meeting between the petro-dealers and the officials of the oil companies recently where the officials said that the crude oil price has gone too high due to which the refining of oil has also become very costly. As the government and the oil companies are not comfortable with the existing petro-prices, they are unwilling to sell the normal petrol at the current rates and are compelling consumers to go for branded petrol.

“Actually the oil companies are trying to develop capacity among the consumers to go for costly fuel. This is why the supply of normal petrol has been curtailed and are compelling petro-dealers to sell branded petrol,” said a petrol bunk owner.

HIKE AGAIN?

Is another round of petrol and diesel hike in the offing? If sources are to be believed, the prices of crude oil have shot up and it has become necessary for the government to hike fuel prices. The hike may be between Rs 6 and Rs 10, said some petrol bunk owners.

In Chitradurga

Sources in oil trade claimed that at some petrol bunks of Hiriyur Taluk in Chitradurga district rationing of petrol has begun. The petrol bunks have decided to give one litre petrol for one bike a day.