It was a like a curfew this morning in the heart of the city, Triplicane.

Except for a few government buses, there were hardly any vehicles on the road as fuel shortage grips the city.

Two days ago, it started as diesel shortage but now the shortage is for both diesel and petrol across the city. Every other bunk has a ‘no stocks board.'

Prices of vegetables have shot up by 20-25 per cent in the last two days as a consequence. “What can we do? Our suppliers have jacked up the prices. We need to do it as well,” said a vegetable vendor in the city.

And, for office goers, it was a nightmare with hardly any fuel available in and around Triplicane, which is not only famous for the M.A. Chidambaram cricket stadium but also for housing a large number of bachelor ‘mansions'.

“I have been roaming around the place for over an hour for fuel but returned without any,” said Mr S. Venkatesh, who works for a software company.

If the fuel shortage continues for the next couple of days, it is also likely to affect the corporates.

Every company has a genset today to cope with the power shortage. Some have inventory for two to three days.

However, if the problem goes beyond two days, companies are in for trouble, said an official of a large software company who is not authorised to speak to the media.

Blame gensets

Oil companies say that the increased demand was mainly for power generation.

Considerable quantities are being consumed by industrial units and also in shops, hotels, hospitals and other commercial establishments.

There is an increasing tendency of industry to substitute other costlier fuels such as furnace oil with cheaper diesel, said Mr V.K. Jaychandran, State Level Coordinator for Oil Industry, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry and Executive Director, Indian Oil, Tamil Nadu.

On shortage of petrol in the city, an official of IOC said that the dealers buy from oil companies a combination of diesel and petrol.

Since it is costlier to buy only petrol (the dealers need to pay cash to get the fuel) on a standalone basis, the dealers are shying away from buying petrol.

This has, in turn, resulted in a shortage of petrol in the city.

Meanwhile, BPCL is planning to move an oil tanker to the Chennai port tomorrow. Both IOCL and HPCL tankers are also expected to berth at Chennai port by tomorrow and is expected to infuse 67,000 KL of diesel into city pumps, he said.

The shortage is only in Chennai. For this, oil company officials say it was due to ‘panic buying' by consumers. In the last couple of days, there were visuals that showed there could be possible fuel shortage.

Huge demand

In a meeting today with the Tamil Nadu Government officials, an oil company representative said that during the months of February, March and April, a growth of 25.2 per cent, 25.7 per cent and 19.5 per cent respectively was recorded for diesel.

The all-India average growth rate for diesel was around 8 per cent during this period. In the current month also the industry has been recording a growth of around 20 per cent.

The unplanned shutdown of one of the units of CPCL from April 27 to May 14 impacted availability of diesel to a certain extent. The shutdown of MRPL between April 12 and 22 due to water shortage further impacted availability across the three Southern States — Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

IOC, as per marketing arrangements, canalises the production of CPCL to other oil companies.

While the above steps are likely to ease the situation of diesel availability in Chennai, the oil companies made a request to consumers not to take more than their requirements and hoard diesel. Tamil Nadu, through the Civil Supplies Department, will also carry out checks to ensure that no hoarding takes place and will initiate strict action against anybody indulging in the same, said a statement.

> raja@thehindu.co.in

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW