People in Kashmir Valley, especially the residents of the capital city of Srinagar, have rushed to stock fuel amid rumours that oil companies are facing a shortage of petrol and diesel due to the Ukraine crisis. Long queues of vehicles could be seen lined up at petrol pumps across Srinagar city and some other parts of the Valley to get fuel amid chaos and confusion.
The claim
Some petrol pumps in Kashmir are facing a shortage of diesel, only as the oil companies have curtailed the quote being supplied to these outlets. Shortage of diesel in some petrol pumps fueled rumours and people thronged filling stations to stock petrol and diesel.
Panic took over the valley and people started flocking to fuel pumps to fill up petrol in the event of a shortage. Videos of vehicles lining up to fill petrol and diesel and a huge crowd gathered outside petrol pumps have gone viral on social media with the claim that there's a shortage of fuel in J&K.
Fact Check
International Business Times reviewed the claims and found that the shortage of fuel is only a rumour spread by some people. There is no shortage of fuel in Kashmir Valley.
Amid panic at petrol pumps in different parts of the Valley, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, P K Pole made it clear that there is no shortage of fuel in Kashmir. He advised the people not to give an ear to rumours of a shortage of fuel.
Dear Customers,This is to assure that product availability at our retail outlets is absolutely normal. There is adequate product availability & supplies to all markets. We request you not to panic. #IndianOil is fully committed to serve at all times. @HardeepSPuri @ChairmanIOCL pic.twitter.com/rndgCLqqn3
— Director (Marketing), IndianOil (@DirMktg_iocl) June 14, 2022
He said that people can go to retail outlets of Indian Oil Corporation Limited and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPLC) to buy fuel. He, however, said that the Hindustan Oil Corporation Limited would also have sufficient stock of petrol and diesel by today evening.
"There is no shortage of fuel in petrol pumps of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) but there is a shortage of diesel only in the petrol pumps of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) due to some technical reason", Anan Sharma, president of J&K Petroleum Dealers Association, told International Business Times, allaying fears of fuel shortage in the valley.
Director (Marketing), Indian Oil Corporation Limited said that product availability at our retail outlets is normal. "There is adequate product availability and supplies to all markets. We request you not to panic. Indian Oil is fully committed to serving at all times", he tweeted.
The owner of a Srinagar-based fuel HPCL station told International Bussiness Times that there is no shortage of petrol but the supply of diesel has been affected and the same would be streamlined within a day.
The owner of the HPCL petrol pump said that due to the nonfunctioning of Jammu and Kashmir Bank for the past few days, "we were not able to do RTGS and companies don't allow credit. It's just because of that otherwise we have adequate stock available."
Due to a shortage of diesel in some filling stations of BPLC and HPCL due to some technical issues, some netizens fueled the rumour that Kashmir Valley is facing a shortage of petrol and diesel due to the Ukraine crisis. Without clarifying the facts, people rushed to the filling stations to stock petrol and diesel.
After reviewing the facts, IBTimes has arrived at the conclusion that there's no shortage of fuel in J&K and that the panic in petrol pumps is a result of widespread rumour.
