Bengaluru: Chaos prevailed at several fuel stations in the city as fears of a fuel crisis loomed with fuel station owners declining to accept any supplies on Friday in protest against the Union government's decision to revise petrol and diesel prices on a daily basis.
Several areas around NICE Road, Mysuru Road and Tumakuru Road saw total shutdown of fuel stations in protest against the decision.
As per the decision taken by the apex body of the Petroleum Dealers’ Association, city fuel station owners didn't receive accept any supplies from Thursday midnight. Petroleum tankers that arrived from Nandigudi refilling centre returned without any supply.
As the news of likely petrol and diesel shortage in the near future in the city spread, motorists rushed to petrol stations to fill their tanks. The rush led to a chaos and by afternoon, several fuel stations had run out of stock.
But the situation was worse on the busy Mysuru Road, NICE Road and Tumakuru Road as fuel stations had shut in protest against the new pricing policy. Hundreds of trucks were stuck on the road because of shortage in supplies.
Bengaluru Petroleum Dealers’ Association president B.R. Ravindranath said, “We will start accepting fuel supplies from Saturday. It was a one-day protest, and we hope that the Union government took note of the protest and understood our demands. If the Centre continues with its adamant stand, we will be left with no options but to continuing with our protests,” he said.
What to expect on Saturday
From Friday midnight, all fuel stations in the city will start accepting the supplies, and the situation is likely to return to normal.
Impact
The protest had no impact within the city limits except for long queues in front of most of the fuel stations, following rumors that petrol/ diesel may not be available from Saturday onwards. As most drivers topped up their tanks, some of the petrol bunks ran out of fuel by afternoon. It was, however, available in most of the fuel stations in the city. But outside the city limits, including NICE Road, Mysuru Road, Tumakuru Road and on Bengaluru-Mangaluru highway, all the fuel stations were shut in protest against the Centre's decision, putting thousands of drivers into trouble.
