Chaos over, crowd thins as normalcy returns to petrol pumps

Bhubaneswar: After four days of chaotic rush at petrol pumps, normalcy returned on Sunday as outlets in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack witnessed routine crowd.

Sanjay Lath, general secretary of Utkal Petroleum Dealers’ Association said in the twin cities, the situation at petrol pumps is more than normal as crowd was less than routine days. “The reason why petrol or diesel was sold less and there was less than routine crowd is people bought in bulk on Friday and Saturday. I think for some days, the petrol pumps will see very thin footfall,” said Lath.



On Saturday, Lath, along with other association members, met food supplies and consumer welfare minister Krushna Chandra Patra at his residence to discuss the situation. Representatives of three oil companies were also present at the meeting.

On Sunday, many people were taken by surprise to see near empty petrol pumps. “Thank god the situation has improved. I think if people maintained disciplined and remained composed without panicking, the past four days wouldn’t have been so chaotic. I could see the tanker come from the depot and refiling the pumps,” said Sudhir Bijay Sen.

Lath said demand rose by around 50% over the past two days due to panic buying. “Seeing Sunday’s sale, I felt that demand has reduced by 60%. People who have bought fuel in bulk will return to the pump only after four-five days,” said Lath.

According to the petroleum association, besides the twin cities, other big cities and towns also have witnessed normalcy. However, Lath claimed that absolute normalcy will return to interior Odisha on Monday evening as fuel tankers are on their way from the depot to the pumps.