Godavari Officials Deny Fuel Shortage, Urge Calm

KAKINADA: Joint collectors of Kakinada, Eluru, Konaseema, East Godavari and West Godavari districts on Sunday said there was no shortage of petrol or diesel and appealed to people not to purchase fuel beyond their immediate needs or store it.Housing Minister Kolluri Partha Saradhi held a Zoom meeting with joint collectors, MLAs and oil company representatives and directed officials to ensure uninterrupted supply to consumers. He said rumours in the media and on social media about diesel shortage had created anxiety among the public.The minister instructed officials to maintain adequate stocks of petrol and diesel, prevent panic buying and ensure that vehicles transporting paddy during the ongoing rabi season did not face shortages. He also asked officials to ensure that no petrol bunk ran completely dry.Eluru district collector K. Vetri Selvi said steps had been taken to meet local demand and there was no diesel shortage. She said the district’s normal daily diesel consumption was around 365 kl, but demand had risen by 10 to 20 per cent during the past week due to panic buying.Kakinada joint collector Apoorva Bharat said petrol and diesel were being supplied continuously to 160 fuel outlets in the district. She said 13 bunks had temporarily run out of stock on Sunday, but supplies were restored immediately. She added that the district had sought 10 per cent additional allocation from the state government.Konaseema joint collector Vykhoma Nidiya Devi said additional supplies would reach the district on Monday morning and the situation would normalise within two days. She said the district had 110 outlets with stocks of 778.7 kl of petrol and 497.6 kl of diesel.She said petrol sales had risen to 213.2 kl from 169.9 kl in the corresponding period last year, while diesel sales increased to 273.1 kl from 207.8 kl. She asked consumers to report overpricing or irregularities by dialling 9059920242 or 9493313862.East Godavari district collector Y. Megha Swaroop said consumers could report issues by calling 8074661259 or the state toll-free number 1967. He said 23 fuel stations had run out of stock but would resume sales from 6 am on Monday.He added that loose diesel would be made available for the agriculture sector and farmers facing difficulties could contact the control room. Current stocks in the district stood at 1,397 kl of petrol and 1,052 kl of diesel.West Godavari district collector T. Rahul Kumar Reddy said 4.5 lakh litres of diesel was being supplied daily against a requirement of 3 lakh litres. He added that VROs were issuing coupons to farmers to obtain fuel.



Source link