Consumers panic as fuel rationing continues

MUMBAI: Water stirs are common in India, but the agitation over petrol may soon become the order of the day. With oil marketing companies (OMC) resorting to fuel rationing and the government dragging its feet on prices, consumers have been left with no option but to fight for every scrap of oil.

Dealers are complaining about disruption in supplies by OMCs, leading to hoarding and affecting supplies to genuine customers.

���Hoarding is common when consumers know that prices are going to increase. Many are also storing fuel, fearing rationing. We can not check hoarding as there is no mechanism to do that.

If we check a consumer for buying more fuel then his regular demand, the media will report it as fuel rationing. Hoarding has lead to sudden increase in demand and we are trying to meet that shortfall,��� said a senior Indian oil official, who admitted that hoarding was on the rise.

���The hoarding will stop only after the government announces a price hike. Oil companies will start selling fuel normally,��� said the official.

The cabinet is likely to meet on Wednesday to take a final call on fuel price hike.
On Sunday, there was a rift between families trying to buy fuel at a BPCL petrol pump in Matunga, Mumbai, and the traffic police had to step into take control.

���Families are coming up with three vehicles and are tanking it up consuming 50 litres each. This has led to long queues at our pumps since morning. Now, we are only left with branded fuel to sell,��� the BPCL dealer said. Some of the pumps in Mumbai has also gone dry selling branded fuel.

State government officials said complaints have been lodged against hoarding in Maharashtra���s Nashik and Aurangabad districts.

Fuel rationing and hoarding has now become a political issue. AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa on Sunday opposed any move to increase fuel prices, alleging that oil companies were rationing supplies to filling stations. ���Only branded petrol and diesel are being supplied in many petrol bunks across the state for the past week.

This premium brand costs Rs 3 more than the unleaded version, which is not being supplied in full quota to the pumps,��� she said.

Indian consumers are not the only ones feeling the pinch of spiralling crude oil prices. Consumers in China, Thailand and parts of Europe have started protests against fuel rationing. International newswire on Thursday reported that petrol stations in at least three major Chinese coastal cities were rationing diesel.

China has been plagued by sporadic shortages and rationing for several years, usually blamed on its big state oil companies, holding back supplies to avoid losses by selling gasoline and diesel at artificially low-domestic market prices in the face of rapidly escalating imported crude costs, said the report.

Cases of fuel rationing were also reported in Malaysia, Sri Lanka and in many European countries.