Long queues of motorists, two and three-wheeler owners mobbed petrol stations in J&K on Tuesday despite assurances from the authorities that there were sufficient stocks of petroleum and LPG in the union territory.
Following the strike by oil tanker drivers and truckers in protest against the new law allowing ten-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs 7 lakh in hit-and-run cases, long queues of jostling vehicle owners mobbed petrol stations to fill their tanks and even use jerry cans to buy extra petrol/diesel to store.
The panic had a ripple effect as one after the other petrol station started running dry due to unprecedented rush.
As one petrol filling station exhausted its stocks, desperate buyers mobbed the adjacent filling stations thereby causing shutting of the petrol pumps due to lack of petrol/diesel stocks in a serial manner.
Divisional administration issued statements that there were enough stocks of petroleum and LPG to last a month in the UT, but these assurances appear to have fallen on deaf ears.
It looked as if the World was going to exhaust all its petroleum stocks today and there would be no tomorrow for petrol/diesel buyers.
(With inputs from IANS)
