CHENNAI: Fuel stations across the city continued their hide and seek with motorists on Sunday, greeting the gas seekers with chained barricades, reminding them of the prevailing petrol and diesel shortage that has crippled the city.Motorists made beelines to fuel outlets on the outskirts of Chennai to fill up their fuel tanks. “I found only one petrol bunk open near Kelambakkam, when I was ferrying passengers from Saidapet to Kovalam,” said Velu, an auto rickshaw driver. “We had to wait for more than an hour for filling petrol. I have decided to restrict my services since Saturday, owing to fuel shortage” Velu added. With the fuel stations’ dependence on supplies from the public sector Oil Marking Companies (OMC) drying up, brisk business was reported in private petrol bunks. “Despite their charging Rs. 3 extra, I am ready to pay more,” said Shanmugham, an auto rickshaw driver, who availed services from a petrol station run by a private firm at Poonamallee. While a few stations offered fuel till they dried up towards the evening, several petrol bunks were shutdown owing to the fuel crisis. Motorists lined up at petrol outlets, giving a miss to the IPL cricket matches in the evening, in a desperate search for fuel. “The situation is likely to worsen from Monday,” said Kannan, president of the Tamil Nadu Petroleum Dealers’ Association. Kannan said that similar fuel shortages were reported from a few cities around the country. Kannan also wondered whether the OMCs were attempting to divert people’s attention from the recent petrol price hike by downsizing supply.
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