Fuel ‘Crisis’ Triggers Chaos In Srinagar

Srinagar- A day after officials’ rubbished reports of petrol and diesel shortage in the Valley, chaotic scenes were witnessed in Srinagar and elsewhere on Thursday as hundreds of people lined up their vehicles at the refilling stations to fill up their tanks.Long queues of vehicles were seen at almost all fuel stations, waiting for their turn to be refilled, leading to traffic jams in some parts of the city and elsewhere in the valley as well, the reports said.

Police and traffic officials were seen regulating the movement of vehicles at some fuel stations where some motorists turned unruly while waiting for their turn.

Amir Rasheed, a motorist, had come to Safa Filling Station at Baghe Ali Mardan Khan to get petrol for his two wheeler. However, much to his disappointment, he found the filling station shut.

“I came all the way from Hawal to get petrol, I was not expecting this filling station to be shut” he said.
He questioned the government’s claims that there was no fuel crisis in the Kashmir Valley.

“This is a full blown crisis, if not then why are the petrol pumps shut?” he questioned.

The rush for refilling the cars and vehicles began after rumours started circulating on social media that the country is facing shortage of fuel.

A senior marketing official at the Indian Oil Corporation Limited took to Twitter to allay the fears of the people but to no avail.

“Dear esteemed customers, we reiterate that there is sufficient product availability and supplies to retail outlets are being met inline with demand. Request not to panic at all. We reassure our full commitment to serve you at all times without interruption,” Director Marketing of the IOCL tweeted.

Director Food and Supplies Department, Abdul Salam blamed people for creating a crisis like situation.

“Unnecessary rumor mongering led to the crisis but in Kashmir it is a norm. If a vehicle had a fuel capacity of 5 litres, he purchased 10 which resulted in the crisis,” Mir said.

He said some people rushed to the filling stations and stocked fuel in large quantities which led to the crisis.
Director F&S further said that a chain of tankers with fuel supply is arriving in the Valley on Friday and the crisis won’t last for more than a day.

Meanwhile, the State Level Coordinator, Oil Industry, Jammu and Kashmir (OIJK) on Thursday assured that there was no shortage of petroleum products across the Union Territory.

“This is to confirm that there is no shortage of Petroleum Products like Motor Spirit (MS), High Speed Diesel (HSD) in the entire Jammu & Kashmir,” said a statement issued by Anjani Kumar, State Level Coordinator, Oil Industry Jammu and Kashmir.
It adds that, all the three Public Sector Oil Companies Viz M/s Indian Oil Corporation Limited , M/s Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited and M/s Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited are having sufficient stocks at their respective depots to cater to the current routine demand of the J&K UT.

The statement also gave a detailed outline on the release of Supply of POL for the past four days of Zewan, Srinagar Depot of IOCL which is a testimony to the fact that higher supplies are being made from Srinagar depot.

It also informed that on 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th June, 348 KLs of petrol and 510 KL diesel, 325 KLs of petrol and 531 KLs of diesel, 499 KLs of petrol and 659 KLs of diesel and 493 KLs of petrol and 589 KLs of diesel were released from IOC, Zewan Depot of Srinagar respectively.

“It is being humbly requested in public interest that there is absolutely no need for panic buying and hoarding of product. Moreover, this will result in unnecessary crowding at the retail outlets and inconvenience to the needy buyers,” the statement added.

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