The sudden announcement of increase in petrol prices on Thursday evening created an ‘artificial’ shortage of the fuel at some petrol pumps.
Thousands of motorists were left standing in serpentine queues at petrol filling stations, causing chaos at many places in the city.
There were reports of stone-pelting and roadblocking on Thursday night with buyers getting into skirmishes with petrol pump staff.
Motorists blamed the petrol filling stations for hoarding petrol to earn more money. profit. Some petrol filling station owners have now alleged that the scarcity was because one of the oil companies stopped the petrol supply to make profit after the hike.
A petrol pump owner from Andheri, who is a dealer for Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), said he requires two to three tankers of fuel a day. “The oil company did not refill the tankers after the hike was announced,” he said. Similar allegations were made by pump owners in Vile Parle and Goregaon.
However, a BPCL spokesperson rubbished the allegations saying 100% supplies were given to all their dealers.
On Thursday, when a Byculla petrol filling station declared itself dry after 9pm and asked customers to come after midnight, angry customers got into altercation with the staff and pelted stones.
“The police reached the spot and threatened people with lathicharge,” said a customer who witnessed the scene. More than 100 motorists then blocked the road till 11.30pm, causing a big traffic jam.
Commuters also alleged that the staff at filling stations where petrol was available were deliberately slow to attend to customers as they were waiting to hike price at midnight.
“The way the staff at a Malad petrol filling station were working, it seemed everything was happening in slow motion,” said Harsh Kaushik, a Borivli resident.
