Diesel shortage hits Nagpur

In what is being termed as a fallout of rising crude prices, the city is facing an acute shortage of diesel.

Except a handful, all major filling stations within city limits ran out of diesel on Sunday. Customers were being directed to outlets outside city limits, but there is no guarantee one would find diesel there, said pump owners.

They said that most diesel outlets ran dry on Sunday after three or four days of low stocks, with quite a few having run out of diesel a couple of days ago.

Petroleum dealers said that with almost every car brand having a diesel version, several four-wheeler owners were finding it difficult to refill their tanks as they were turned back at almost all local pumps. With load-shedding also going up by another hour from Saturday, those running diesel generators too are finding it hard to find enough diesel to run their sets, say the dealers.

However, the exact reason for this sudden shortage is unclear. Retail outlet owners say that the oil companies have fixed a monthly quota of fuel since the last month for every petrol pump.

"This is the reason supplies have shrivelled substantially," they said. The quota has been fixed according to the monthly average of diesel sold at the particular pump in the last one year, said dealers.