Home Secretary appealed to the public to refrain from panic buying

Transport Strike, Fuel crisis in Punjab Petrol Pumps news: Acting swiftly on the directions of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, a high level meeting involving senior state and district officials was convened to monitor the distribution of petrol and diesel in the state. 

Sharing the details with a section of mediapersons after the meeting, Gurkirat Kirpal Singh, Home Secretary, Punjab said that there was no need for the public to panic as adequate stock of Petrol and Diesel is available in the State. Against a daily consumption of about 4100 KL of petrol, the stock of petrol in various petrol pumps across the State is about 22,600 KL and the same shall be replenished from time to time, he said. 

Similarly the State consumes about 10000 KL of Diesel daily and the stocks with the Filling Stations is currently more than 30,000 KL, and 90000 KL is also available at various Terminals, he added. All the terminals are connected through pipeline with the respective refineries and there's constant flow of petroleum products to these terminals.  

Commenting upon the media reports regarding acute shortage of petrol/diesel in certain Filling Stations, the Home Secretary said that at any point in time the stock is not uniformly positioned in all the Filling Stations. While certain filling stations may be at zero level others may have full stock and, therefore, the stock position of a few Filling Stations  should not be used to reflect the position of total stocks in the State.

The Home Secretary appealed to the public to refrain from panic buying as they are putting themselves to unnecessary trouble in the cold weather. 

During the meeting district officials were asked to remain vigilant and ensure smooth movement of petrol and diesel trucks across the state. They were also asked to have meetings with the section of striking transporters to facilitate redressal of their grievance. The police was also asked to remain vigilant to ensure smooth and uninterrupted movement and sale of diesel/petrol across the state.

Senior officers of IOC, BPCL and HPCL, who were present in the meeting, assured the State Government that they would leave no stone unturned in ensuring adequate supply of petrol, diesel and LPG in the State.