Commuters angry as greedy petrol station owners down shutters to cash in on rs 7.50 hike

 
C Shivakumar, Sruthisagar Yamunan and Shyam Balasubramaniam
CHENNAI: Furious commuters, angered by the abrupt closure of several petrol stations following the announcement of a steep price hike by oil companies, resorted to verbal spats and sloganeering and blocked roads on Wednesday, throwing traffic out of gear.

Several stations of major oil companies downed their shutters by afternoon causing panic among motorists, bent on a buying spree, who kept on driving in search of petrol. While bunk owners blamed irregular supply by oil firms for the shortage of fuel in the city, oil majors squarely denied such accusations.Interestingly, a Bharat Petroleum bunk worker in Ponnamalee High Road said diesel (the price of which has not been revised) was available in plenty.

The anger in some of the stations was such that motorists broke open the barricades and flung the “Out of Stock” boards put up in the stations. Some of them resorted to verbal abuse of bunk owners, demanding they open the bunks and supply petrol immediately.“Does this government think people are fools? These bunks have clearly planned this shut down. They want to take advantage of the fuel price hike and make profits,” alleged Manickam, an auto driver. At a petrol bunk opposite Vepery police station, enraged commuters stationed their bikes in the middle of the road and blocked traffic for a few minutes.“

An increase of one or two rupees might have been understandable. But seven rupees is a 10 per cent hike. It is just too much,” said a motorcyclist loudly in Thiruvanmiyur, even as others around him agreed. Most people had unpleasant things to say about the UPA government, terming it “anti-people” and “pro-capitalists”.

Though some petrol stations in areas such as Ambattur and Red Hills supplied fuel, long queues that poured out on to the roads caused traffic snarls. Constant radio announcements about the hike compounded the chaos.A high-ranking member of TN Petroleum Dealers’ Association said the hoarding was due to a steep hike of `7.50 for the first time in history. “The dealers want to cash in on it and this is the cause of the shutdown,” he said.

Geeta Mathew, President of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Association, Chennai forum, said HP outlets have been facing shortage of fuel since April 21.However, an IOC spokesperson denied accusation of short supply to bunks and said he has sent officials to look into the complaints. “There were law and order problems and the bunk owners complained to police following which they were asked to close down,” he added. Officials of BP and Hindustan Petroleum could not be reached despite repeated attempts.

(With inputs from Angel Mary and V Gangadharan)