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Chaos descended on Chennai on Monday as fuel bunks across the city ran out of diesel, setting off panic among residents who rushed to stock up fearing a shortage. Their fears were not unfounded because none of the bunks had received their daily load of petrol on Monday. Chief secretary L K Tripathy subsequently reviewed the situation with oil company executives and directed district collectors to ensure that retailers did not hoard fuel.
While some bunks rationed their supply, refusing to give diesel for more than Rs 200 and petrol for more than Rs 100, some others turned customers away and remained shut. Some of them gave out fuel only in cans and bottles, forcing a number of customers to buy water bottles and drink up before filling them with petrol or diesel.
The state-level coordinator of the oil industry attributed the sudden shortage of diesel to the delay in getting supplies through coastal tankers from Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL). “This depleted the stocks of diesel available with that company and had also resulted in diversion of BPCL’s customers to other company retail outlets, Indian Oil and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, thereby running down the stocks at several retail outlets across the city and suburbs,” V K Jaychandran, coordinator and executive director of Indian Oil (Tamil Nadu), said in a statement.
Jayachandran, however, said the “temporary supply disruption in diesel would come to an end in the next 24 hours” as BPCL’s diesel tanker would berth at Chennai port within this time. This would significantly improve supplies of diesel in Chennai and its suburbs, he said.
