Jamshedpur: In order to curb black-marketing in the wake of the West Asia conflict, several petrol pumps in Jamshedpur have started to enforce a cap on single transaction of diesel or petrol, operators said on Tuesday. For diesel, pump operators have put a cap on maximum of 300 litres at a time, while for petrol, it is Rs 3,000 per transaction.“The objective is to prevent hoarding of fuel even though we aren’t facing any supply crisis so far,” said Alok Singh, owner of a petrol pump at Sonari, told TOI. He added that fuel companies have asked all pump owners informally to work out measures to curb any wrongdoing.
A petrol pump owner at Golmuri, Devendra Mahato, said that the cap has come into effect since April 10 and so far, there’s no panic buying. Pump owners have said that oil companies have also prohibited sale of petrol and diesel in loose containers such as plastic jars and jerry cans.An oil company marketing officer said on the condition of anonymity that random monitoring of fuel stations is being done to keep eye on the sales.There are 35 fuel outlets in Jamshedpur with daily sales of 2.30 lakh litres of petrol and 2.80 lakh litres of diesel. A considerable amount of diesel is consumed by factories operating in the two adjoining towns of Jamshedpur and Adityapur.In Ranchi, petrol pump owners are ensuring that diesel and petrol aren’t sold in cans, gallons or browsers (mini-tankers). Jharkhand Petroleum Dealers’ Association spokesperson and owner of a pump in Dibdih area, Pramod Kumar, said that while fuel companies or the district administration haven’t sent any written orders, verbal directives have been received to stay alert.“In Ranchi, we have completely stopped giving petrol or diesel in containers. Fuel companies are facing financial strain due to rising crude prices globally. Hence, they have are giving outlets supplies based on their daily sales average. Earlier, we too used to keep additional stocks but that has been restricted now. But we aren’t facing any supply crunch so far,” he said.(Inputs from ASRP Mukesh in Ranchi)