‘Odisha has enough fuel stock for another 13 days, no shortage of fuel’

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Krushna Chandra Patra on Friday said that there is no shortage of petrol and diesel in the state amid fuel-crisis like situation.

He claimed that Odisha currently has sufficient fuel stock for the next 13 days and also urged people not to panic-buy fuel. Amid rumors of petrol pumps providing limited amount of fuel, the minister clarified that the government has not imposed any restrictions on fuel supply at petrol pumps. Some of the petrol pumps have put some rules to control the situation in view of the long queues of people.

Due to the panic buying, the demand for the petrol has seen a sudden spike across the state so some petrol pumps are providing less amount of fuel to maintain the supply. So, the Minister has advised people to avoid buying fuel more than necessary in a panic.

“We have oil in stock for another 13 days and there is no shortage of fuel. However, a panic buying situation emerged. We are unsure how the panic spread and people assumed that fuel would not be available in the future. This resulted in long queues and people even started buying fuel beyond their requirement. They also brought jerrycans to petrol pumps to store fuel. Due to this situation, the demand grew by 50 per cent in the past few days,” he said.

He further stated, “I request everyone not to panic and to buy fuel according to their requirement. I request people not to buy petrol in jerrycans and store it at home.”

Meanwhile, he also addressed the issue of the limited selling of fuel at pumps. He said, “There is sufficient stock of fuel in the country. When large crowds gather at petrol pumps, oil companies supply fuel in capped quantities so that everyone can buy and also to rush the process. No such instructions have been issued by the government.”