The Civil Supplies Department said that the government transitioned to ‘over-supply’ strategy of fuel to eliminate panic among people. The daily State-wide diesel distribution has been increased by 190% to 21,295 kilolitres (KL) as of Thursday, while petrol distribution surged by 118% to 12,875 KL. The usual average daily supply of diesel is 7,348 KL and petrol is 5,883 KL.
Telangana had witnessed a surge in demand for fuel from the beginning of the week, with people standing in long queues to refill their vehicles with diesel or petrol. The situation started to ease since Wednesday.
The government’s strategy to over-supply follows “a sudden spike in fuel demand triggered by rumours of post-election price hikes and cross-border panic buying from Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. The strain on the State’s retail network was further worsened by commercial consumers exploiting the steep price gap between industrial diesel (₹150/litre) and retail diesel (₹95/litre), which led to localised retail shortages,” as per a press note issued on Thursday.
Commissioner of the department M. Stephen Raveendra directed Oil Marketing Companies (OMC) to immediately ramp up petrol and diesel supplies by 10% to 15% across Telangana.
