Blink goes the petrol bunk: Bengaluru's latest route to chaos
Most motorists, who were taken by surprise, had a tough time with almost half the bunks in the city running out of fuel.
Thousands of motorists had a tough time getting fuel for their vehicles on Tuesday as tanker owners and their drivers went on a flash strike demanding better roads and access to petrol bunks. As the queues — and the wait — got longer at several bunks, inevitably it was chaos with people fighting with fellow motorists in the race to get to the pump.
As the flash strike by tankers carrying diesel and petrol Monday evening spilled over into Tuesday, most motorists, who were taken by surprise, had a tough time with almost half the bunks in the city running out of fuel. Thankfully, the issue was resolved by noon and supply was resumed later Tuesday evening after the oil companies held a meeting with petrol dealers and tanker owners to thrash out the issues worrying them.
Long queues of cars, bikes and buses were seen outside petrol bunks from early morning Tuesday. Many had to return without fuel as the bunks displayed ‘no stock’ boards in no time. While some bunks ran out of diesel, others ran out of petrol across the city, much to the dismay of commuters. Only Shell petrol pumps, which do not depend on the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) for their supply of fuel, made a killing with a large number of vehicles making a beeline for them.
The strike could not have come at a worse time as people were out in large number with their cars and two-wheelers to tank up before the fuel price was hiked – petrol by Rs 2.19 a litre and diesel by 98 paise a litre — from midnight of Monday.
Angered by the long wait at the petrol bunks, Ms Surabhi Raj of Indiranagar wanted to know why the tankers had to resort to such measures to draw attention to the bad roads they travelled on. “Why can’t the government intervene and fix the state’s crumbling infrastructure and how can tanker drivers be allowed to hold the city to ransom this way?” she demanded.
Why the strike?
The tankers, however, justified the strike saying they were not getting paid adequately for transporting fuel to the city from Devanagundi and the bad roads only pushed up their operational costs and placed drivers and cleaners at risk. The road from Devanagundi to Hoskote is in such bad shape that loaded tankers are forced to take the kachcha road and open fields, damaging their vehicles in the process, they add.
Strike hits normal life in city
Taken by surprise, many motorists and two wheeler riders missed going to work on Tuesday as petrol bunks in several areas had ‘no stock’ boards displayed outside. A teacher in a private school, Smitha P Kulkarni, missed the evaluation work at her institution. “I was not aware of the strike. Like every day I went to a HP fuel station near my home, but to my shock found a ‘no stock’ board displayed there. It was the same at all other petrol bunks nearby. I spent nearly 45 minutes searching for a petrol bunk that had fuel and then applied for leave. If I had some advance warning about the strike, I could have filled by two wheeler tank yesterday,” she said.
Marketing executive, Raghupathi Tantri, and several of his colleagues cancelled their business appointments on Tuesday on account of the strike. “While the roads were free of traffic, it is sad that strikes are called over every small issue. This is not a good development. Who is responsible for the huge loss incurred by businesses because of these uncalled for strikes?” he demanded.
Fortunately supplies to the Yeshwanthpur APMC yard were not hit by the fuel tankers’ strike. “But if it had continued for a day more, there could have been panic at the yard,” said an officer.
‘Do not put lives of drivers and cleaners at risk, Improve roads’
“We have been demanding better roads for a few years now. A diesel tanker carries up to 20,000 litres per trip. Bad roads put the lives of the drivers and cleaners at risk,” said a member of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers’ and Cleaners’ Welfare Association, justifying the strike which hit the city’s petrol bunks and commuters hard over the last couple of days.
“As roads have big potholes, balancing the tankers is not easy. All the oil firms have their storage here and so we want the government to act,” said a driver, urging the authorities to give due priority to improving the roads from Devanagundi to the city.
“Even at Devanagundi, there are no facilities for tanker drivers and cleaners, who wait a minimum of 10 hours for loading. There are no good rest rooms, or food courts. We are also human beings and want facilities,” he asserted. “Oil firms are silent on the issue as it is the poor drivers and the cleaners who bear the brunt of the bad roads and take all the risk involved. A strike was the only way to open the eyes of all the concerned to our troubles,” said tanker driver, Praveen Pujari.
Strike ends, tankers to take new route
The busy Old Madras Road is set to get busier with at least 500 more tankers using it now to reach the city from Devanagundi. While until now tankers bringing fuel to Bengaluru from Devanagundi took the Soukhya Road, Whitefield and Marathahalli route, they will now take the Hoskote and KR Puram route under a new arrangement worked out following the strike of the last couple of days. The tankers will have to pay a toll on Old Madras Road, which the oil companies have offered to bear. The new route will help reduce oil pilferage, said sources.
Around 500 tankers bring about 20,000 kilo litres of fuel to the city every day. While about 250 tankers serve bunks of the Indian Oil Corporation, 250 others carry fuel to the Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum bunks.
Following a meeting of all stakeholders it was decided to form a committee comprising of transporters, dealers and experts like cost accountants to decide upon the transportation rate of fuel to the city. The committee will ensure that the transporters are not coerced into signing price documents and transparency is maintained.
