09 January,2009 08:40 AM IST | | Amit Kumar
Left high and dry by the oil sector strike, Delhi may now go powerless too
After running out of petrol on Thursday, Delhi is now facing a power blackout as well.
The strike by the employees of the oil sector may hit Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) supply to the Pragati Power Plant, which supplies electricity to many parts of the city. "If CNG supply to the gas-based plant is not resumed immediately, Delhi will plunge into darkness," said a senior Delhi government official, requesting anonymity.
The oil strike started affecting the man on the street by Thursday afternoon with a majority of petrol pumps displaying "No Stock" signboards.
Panic-stricken motorists waited in serpentine queues for whatever fuel was left at some of the stations. To stem panic buying, petrol pump owners refused to refill beyond a bill of Rs 200.
According to a senior Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) official, the situation will worsen when employees of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation join the strike.
"The entire nation will stop moving. And no one but the government is responsible for this crisis. They have completely failed to address our concerns and is threatening us," he said, requesting anonymity.
Around half of around 400 petrol pumps in the city went dry by Thursday evening, said Atul Peshawaria, head of the Delhi Petrol Dealers' Association. "The situation is likely to worsen," Peshawaria warned.
In view of a probable cut in fuel prices, Delhiites were not filling to the full. "Most of them were playing the wait and watch game," he said.
"For the last one week I was not filling to the full capacity of my vehicle in the hope that there may be a further cut in fuel prices. But because of the strike I am roaming around in search of petrol," said Ranjan Tiwari, an advocate, waiting in a queue at a petrol pump in Nizammuddin.
The pumps that had stock had to deal with serpentine queues. "Our outlet gets fuel supply from Hindustan Petroleum, therefore, we are open. But it is hard to manage the huge rush of customers thronging our outlet since morning. Everybody wants to get maximum fuel," said Rajiv Chadha, member of the Delhi Petrol Dealers' Association and owner of a petrol pump near Ferozeshah Kotla in central Delhi.
"Our outlet went out of stock by 11.30 am. As the supply of petrol and diesel is not coming, we can't do anything," said a staff at the Bharat Petroleum outlet in Anand Vihar.
Many people travelled in public transport and some pooled their vehicles. Manish Sharma, a human resource professional, after wandering around East Delhi and Noida for at least two hours on Thursday, finally returned to his office in Noida without refilling his motorcycle. "I can't go back home on my bike. I would have to take a lift from a colleague," he said.
| Strike hits fuel supply, delays flights |
| About 70 flights were delayed by an average of 30 minutes on the second day of the indefinite oil strike. Slow refuelling of aircraft delayed flights in Mumbai and Kolkata, even though officials at the Delhi International Airport Limited said there was no delay in flights on this count, barring those which arrived late. u00a0 "Private airlines are less affected as they upload most of their fuel from Hindustan Petroleum whose officers are not participating in the strike. Air India and foreign airlines have been hit as their supplies come from IOC and BPCL," said sources in the aviation industry. |
