Fuel oil crisis deepens as pumps stop selling

Fuel oil crisis has aggravated further across the country, including the capital yesterday as filling stations stopped selling of diesel, petrol and octane.

Most of the long-distant inter-district buses also could not leave Dhaka for their destinations in different districts as the filling stations refused to sell fuel oil to them. Many passengers of different long-distant bus services were found waiting at three inter-district bus terminals in the city as the designated long-distant buses could not leave the capital failing to buy fuel oil from the petrol pumps.

However energy advisor Mahmudur Rahman said yesterday that the country had ‘adequate’ reserve of fuel oil. The advisor also ruled out any possibility of fuel oil crisis in near future.

Officials at the BPC said that a section of dishonest petrol pumps owners started hoarding of fuel oil to make extra money anticipating that the government would soon increase the prices of fuel oil.

Leaders of the Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan Malik Samity said only 50 per cent of the country’s total buses and minibuses under the private sector were plying now.

Fuel oil crisis was acute in almost all the filling stations in the Dhaka city yesterday. Most of the petrol pumps stopped selling fuel oil from Friday night. Many of the petrol pumps also put iron-made bars in front of them so that no vehicle could enter the petrol pumps to seek oil. Hundreds of motor vehicles were found waiting for hours in long queues in front of different petrol pumps in the city from yesterday morning. Employees at these filling stations told the owners of the vehicles that their stocks had already been exhausted and they would not be able to provide fuel oil unless and until they received fresh supplies from the oil depots. Being disheartened, many of them had to go back finally. Though some of the petrol pumps sold fuel oil in the morning, they stopped selling fuel oil by noon. However, instead of diesel, some petrol pumps were found selling petrol and octane.

The New Nation