Short supply of petrol to different fuel stations in the city led to panic among motorists on Wednesday night as many Indian Oil company filling stations sported “No stock” boards in the capital.
There are about 400 fuel stations in the city, of which nearly 150 are Indian Oil fuel stations. Though a few stations offered premium petrol, a majority of these fuel stations in Secunderabad, Begumpet, Musheerabad and other areas in the city closed their services since Tuesday.
Generally, petrol and diesel is supplied from Cherlapally depot to Indian Oil fuel stations in Hyderabad territory, which extends to parts of Ranga Reddy district. Reasons behind the short supply were not yet known and as a result, many fuel stations were forced to shut, admitted Hyderabad Petrol and Diesel Dealers Association Secretary T.C. Goel.
“However, oil company authorities in an alternative arrangement supplied fuel to few Indian Oil outlets from HP and BP depots. They further assured that regular supplies would commence from Thursday,” said Mr. Goel.
Meanwhile, rumours of private fuel stations like Shell offering petrol at Rs. 2 less per litre than the public sector oil companies’ outlets spread like a wildfire. Protesting against this move, many public sector oil companies’ filling stations closed their outlets in the city.
Dismissing all these rumours, State Oil Coordinator Hariprasad clarified that the petrol price at Shell outlets was Rs.78.80 per litre on Wednesday. The price in public sector companies’ fuel stations is Rs.78.12 per litre, nearly 0.68 paise lesser than Shell outlets, he said.
He further said that there was no shortage of petrol.