Repairs at Mathura refinery leads to petrol shortage in Kumaon

BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, May 7

People in the Kumaon region are facing a shortage of petrol and diesel these days due to lack of sufficient supply from the Mathura refinery for the last 15 days. Vehicles were seen stranded at petrol stations all over Kumaon even today. The Block Development Committee meeting in Bageshwar was stormy today as members asked the district administration for sufficient supply of petrol and diesel. People lined up at filling stations scrambled for petrol and diesel as soon as supply vehicles arrived.

“Today, we could get only 61,000 litres of petrol and 60,000 litres of diesel from the Mathura refinery while our daily demand is 4.50 lakh litres of diesel and 1.25 litres of petrol for over 140 petrol pumps across the Kumaon region,” said Kishan Singh, manager at a Bharat Petroleum pump at Haldwani.

According to information given by different oil agencies, they could supply only 10,000 litres of fuel each to filling stations in Almora, Bageshwar, Pithoragarh and Haldwani. “Vehicles moved to IOC petrol pumps today as only the IOC could get the required fuel supply from the Mathura refinery,” said Kishan Singh.

The fuel crisis was evident in Haldwani, Nainital, Pithoragarh, Ranikhet, Bageshwar and Champawat districts where Bahrat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation filling stations are operating.

In Kashipur town of Udham Singh Nagar district, against the daily requirement of 20,000 litres of diesel and 12,000 litres of petrol the filling stations are getting only 5,000 litres of both petrol and diesel for the last fortnight. “We have been informed that the supply of petrol and diesel has reduced due to the ongoing repair work at the Mathura refinery. The supply will normalise as soon as the repair work is completed,” said Sri Nandan Aggrawal, president of the Uttarakhand Petroleum Traders Association, Kashipur.

The tourism trade in Almora has also been affected due to the fuel shortage as the number of taxis plying to Almora, Ranikhet, Bageshwar and Kausani from Haldwani and Kathgodam has reduced to half. “Of the total 250 tourist taxis plying to Almora, Ranikhet, Kausani and Bageshwar before the fuel crisis, we are running 100 taxis to these places during this peak tourist season in Kumaon hills,” said Bhawdeep Chand, a taxi operator at Haldwani.