BHUBANESWAR:With panic buying continuing unabated across Odisha leaving fuel stations running dry in several districts, the state government on Saturday directed oil marketing companies to keep all four fuel depots operational on Sundays.
The depots at Jatni, Balasore, Paradip and Khurda, which usually remain closed on Sundays, will continue operations to ensure uninterrupted loading and transportation of petrol and diesel to filling stations across the state.
During a meeting with the representatives of oil marketing companies and members of the dealers’ association earlier in the day, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare minister Krushna Chandra Patra reviewed the fuel situation and directed the oil companies to transport petrol/diesel to all the pumps.
“As per the government’s directive, fuel will be loaded from the depots in more than 650 tankers on Sunday too. It is expected that all the pumps will have adequate stock of petrol and diesel by Monday evening,” said sources.
Odisha records a daily consumption of about 44.7 lakh litres of petrol and 1.12 crore litres of diesel with urban filling stations witnessing higher sales during weekends, aggravating pressure on existing stocks.
“There is, however, no need to panic. Adequate stock of petrol and diesel is available in the state,” said chief general manager and Odisha head of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOCL) Kamal Sheel, who is also the state-level coordinator of oil companies. He urged consumers to purchase fuel only as per requirement and avoid panic buying.
Meanwhile, people continued to crowd petrol pumps to fill the tanks of their vehicles. However, transport operators claimed that shortages persisted in several industrial and mining belts including Joda, Barbil, Keonjhar, Sambalpur and Rourkela.
The Odisha State Truck Owners’ Federation said the ongoing fuel crunch had begun affecting the movement of essential commodities. “There are more than 1.5 lakh private trucks operating in Odisha and the disruption in fuel supply is impacting transportation,” federation general secretary Pranab Parija said. The All Odisha Private Bus Owners’ Association also sought government intervention to ensure uninterrupted diesel supply. “Out of around 2,800 fuel stations in the state, buses depend on nearly 250 pumps for diesel refilling. We have requested the government to ensure availability at these outlets,” association secretary Debendra Sahu said.
A surge in petrol and diesel demand swept across Odisha since last week, driven by fears of supply disruptions from the West Asia crisis and post-election price hikes. In the last four days, there has been a 37 per cent growth in the sale of petrol and diesel in the state.
“Apart from the refilling on the daily basis, most pumps have fuel for at least three days but that too was exhausted in 200 to 300 filling stations and the remaining witnessed a sharp decline in their stocks,” said All India Petroleum Dealers’ Association secretary general Sanjay Lath.