Bengaluru: Planning to drive to your hometown for Ugadi? Make sure that your fuel tank is full, as the city petrol bunks may go dry soon. Over 50 petrol bunks late on Monday evening reported that they had already run out of stock.
Owners of over 1,200 petrol tankers are protesting against the government’s failure to repair the road between Devanagundi and Hosakote.
Bangalore Petroleum Dealers’ Association vice-president T. Prabhakar said, “They had earlier protested seeking better roads and they have been on strike for some time now. They have also other demands like better pay and other facilities including PF and EPF from their companies. As they are poorly paid, there have been frequent cases of fuel theft from the tankers, which is in burning a hole in the pockets of oil companies and dealers. They had earlier protested demanding better facilities, but companies had not met them to their satisfaction.”
He made it clear that petroleum dealers will serve the public as along they have the stock, but have to put up “no petrol” banners once they run out of fuel.
“The strike naturally affects the dealers. But there will be no official shutting down of the bunks,” he said. During a similar strike in April 2015, several bunks had pulled down their shutters as they ran out of stock. The tanker drivers were on strike against a government decision to declare an important road as a silent zone making it impossible for their heavy vehicles to use the road in Anagandalli.
