Belagavi: Petrol and diesel filling centers in Belagavi witnessed long queues on Monday. There is huge shortage of petrol and diesel in city since past one week. On Sunday, most of the filling centers had a ‘No Stock’ board to greet customers. When these centers reopened on Monday morning, hundreds of vehicles gathered at the centers, leading to the long queues, conjunction in the traffic and chaos.
An emergency meeting was called by Belagavi MP Suresh Angadi along with the representatives of petroleum companies at the office of Ghataprabha and Malaprabha Catchment Area Development Authority (CADA), to discuss the fuel shortage.
Rajesh Kumar, divisional assistant manager, Indian Oil Corporation Limited, (IOCL) said that, presently petrol is being supplied to Belagavi from Vijaypura and Navlur depots. The fuel is being moved by road and not by rail wagons following the shutting of Mangaluru based refinery. It will take a weeks time to regulate the supply of petrol and diesel. Further, here said, the repair work is going on at the Desur fuel depot, which will take some more time. He ensured that the supply of petrol from Desur fuel depot will resume in the next fortnight.
“I will talk to Pralhad joshi, president of chemical and fertilizers standing committee about resolving the fuel shortage in Belagavi”, Angadi said in the meeting. Representatives IOCL, BPCL and HPCL were present.
KNNP submit memorandum:
Meanwhile, KNNP submitted a memorandum to the DC, Belagavi and asked the DC to hold a meeting of the Regional Managers of HPCL, IOCL & BPCL, who are operating out of Belagavi and are responsible for fuel supply, Rajeev Topannavar submitted the memorandum and addressed the media stating that the District Administration has failed in overseeing the proper supply of fuel in Belagavi, since Petrol and Diesel are essential commodities and the District Administration is responsible to control the Oil companies in distribution of fuel.
He said that the Desur fire incident in January is the root cause for today’s shortage in fuel supply. Regional Managers of HPCL, IOCL & BPCL have been careless and are neglecting the speed of the safety works undertaken by them at the Desur Depot. The Depot is shut for more than 3 months. Because of the Desur incident fuel is being supplied from Hubli, Managalore, B’lore and elsewhere.
He also warned about the chances of HPCL depot being permanently shifted to Hubli and this would create a lot of difficulties for people of Belagavi District.
Addressing these issues, additional DC Praveen Kumar called upon the public not to believe rumours being spread about shortage of petrol and diesel, and assured that the problem will be resolved soon.
He said problem has begun due to temporary shut down of Mangalore Refinery Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) at Mangaluru since April 1st week for maintenance and technical reasons. It was reopened on 27th April and fuel supply has been begun gradually. He said that the problem will be solved within a week.
