Scarcity of petrol and diesel has hit Dehradun and other parts of the State as the petrol pumps have gone dry. The vehicle users were seen moving from one petrol pump to another in search of the fuel in the city on Wednesday. A truck loaded with around 20,000 litres of petrol normally reaches the petrol pumps daily, but for the past two days, the oil companies have stopped supplying it, adding to the woes of the people, said an employee of petrol pump, located on Raipur Road, nearer Survey Chowk.
Despite being aware of the scarcity, people were found frantically procuring petrol at various petrol pumps in the city since morning. By the noon, serpentine queues were formed outside the petrol pumps. The information that the fuel would be in short supply in the coming few days triggers the people to rush in its search. Many were found half-filling the tanks.
Dehradun district food and civil supply officer PS Pangti said HPCl petrol pumps were closed due to shortage of supply of petrol from the company. However, all IOC petrol pumps were opened on Wednesday. Things would improve in the HPCl petrol pumps from Thursday as company has sent around 25 trucks loaded with petrol for Dehradun. According to him, there are around 45 petrol pumps under HPCl in Dehradun and around 100 in the State.
Survesh Kumar Sinha, divisional manager, IOC said that there are 17 petrol pumps in Dehradun while 240 are in the State. He claimed that all petrol pumps were open in the State. However, the fuel was scarce, he added.