Telangana government wants public sector oil marketing companies - Indian Oil Corporation, BPCL and HPCL - to supply petrol and diesel as per indents placed by the retail outlets.
Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Gangula Kamalakar conveyed this to the senior officials of the companies, with whom he held discussions for the second consecutive day here. The meeting assumes significance amid reports of some retail outlets across the State running out of stocks, shutting earlier than usual for the day, as well dealers recently accusing the oil companies of rationing products.
Noting that there were 3,520 petrol bunks in the State, the Minister urged the oil companies to ensure against any product shortage by supplying as per indents placed by the dealers.
He also cautioned that licences would be revoked immediately if any bunk is found creating artificial fuel scarcity, a release on the meeting said.
Civil Supplies Commissioner Anil Kumar, State Coordinator of oil companies Y.P. Singh, IOC General Manager M.B. Manohar Roy, BPCL DGM K.S.V. Baskar Rao, HPCL Chief Manager P. Mangilal, Telangana Petroleum Dealers Association president M Amarender Reddy and a few other leaders of the trade attended the meeting, the release said.
The dealers have been attributing stock out at the outlets to the oil companies’ alleged reluctance on account of the losses from selling fuel at prices that have been on hold despite price of crude oil (raw material) increasing.
Senior officials in the oil industry deny any rationing of products. The reasons they cite for the stock out at the outlets include a couple of the oil companies stopping supply of products on credit to the dealers and an increase in demand on account of the outlets of private retailers such as Reliance not operational.
A major irritant, however, seems to be dual pricing of diesel. The fuel is priced around ₹25 more per litre for bulk consumers such as industrial units, transport corporations and generators. Supplies to such consumers are made at their locations. Both the dealers and officials of oil companies say the price difference is resulting in the bulk users filling up at retail outlets.
