M A I N   N E W S

Dry run: Petrol dealers wait for lower prices
Ruchika M. Khanna
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 14
An estimated 20 per cent of retail outlets of various state-run oil marketing companies, located in the border districts of Ferozepur, Abohar, Fazilka, Sangrur, Amritsar and Taran Taaran, ran dry today. With petrol dealers in these areas refusing to lift more stocks from oil marketing companies, fearing a drastic reduction in oil prices, consumers in these areas were left ‘high and dry’.

Most of the pumps in the above-mentioned places went dry around noon today, after the stocks that they had bought yesterday got exhausted, and they desisted from putting in fresh indents. With the Centre having already announced its inclination to slash the prices of petrol by Rs 5 a litre and diesel by Rs 3 a litre anytime now, the dealers in the region are ‘playing it safe’ by buying only the bare minimum stocks. Though no complaints of drying up of retail outlets were received from the main cities of Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Bathinda, the petrol pump owners maintained that they were buying fuel in limited quantity that could be sold off in a day.

The state-run oil marketing companies, too, said the demand had fallen by almost 30 per cent in this region during the past two days. “We saw a 20 per cent fall in demand yesterday, and another 10 per cent fall in demand today. Dealers say that industrial and individual customers are also buying cautiously in anticipation of the fuel-price cut. But our field staff is conducting regular checks across the region to ensure that regular fuel supply is maintained,” said officials in IOC and Hindustan Petroleum.