Supply of essential goods hit in Himachal Pradesh, roadways cancels 138 routes

Tribune News Service

Shimla/Mandi, January 2

Public transport and the supply of essential commodities were affected at many places across the state today due to the shortage of diesel and petrol following the strike of truck drivers. While the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) cancelled 138 low-occupancy routes due to the shortage of fuel, private buses in Solan, Una and Chamba did not ply due to the drivers’ strike. In other districts, the private bus service was affected due to the shortage of fuel. The truck drivers are protesting against a provision in a new law regarding punishment in hit-and-run cases.

Private buses not to ply in Shimla

• Private buses will not ply in Shimla on Wednesday. The Private Bus Drivers and Conductors Association gave a notice to this effect to the Deputy Commissioner, Shimla, on Tuesday.
• Akhil Gupta, president of the association said all private buses operating from the old bus stand to various parts of the capital city will not run on Wednesday.
• He said that private buses would also not ply in a few other places like Solan, Nalagarh and Una, etc., on Wednesday. From Thursday, however, all buses will ply as per the schedule, Gupta added.

However, the availability of fuel is likely to improve tomorrow onwards as around 170 tankers were dispatched to various parts of the state today from the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) depot in Una and the Hindustan Petroleum (HP) depot at Nalagarh. According to an IOC official, a few tankers were dispatched to replenish the stock for HRTC buses.

“We are expecting the situation to improve considerably from tomorrow, as the availability of fuel improves,” said an official of the Food and Civil Supplies Corporation. There are around 700 petrol stations in the state and around 80 per cent of them have exhausted their stocks, according to fuel dealers.

The shortage of fuel led to chaos at a few petrol stations where it was available, with vehicles in long queues waiting for refill. In Shimla, people had to wait for hours in queues to reach petrol stations but were not given more than eight to 10 litres of fuel. Tourists also bore the brunt of the fuel shortage. “We are heading back to Chandigarh but there’s not enough fuel in our vehicle,” said a Tempo Traveller driver, who was caught in a traffic jam in Shimla. In Mandi, some tourists going to Manali chose to return when they learnt about the fuel crisis.

Meanwhile, deputy commissioners have directed petrol station owners to keep a reserve stock of fuel for emergency situations.

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