Fuel scarcity has been persisting in eight districts of the northern region of country following the Eid-ul-Fitr. Petrol, octane, and diesel are supplied to the railway head depot in Parbatipur upazila of Dinajpur from Chattogram through Khulna, to meet the demand of the eight districts of northern region.
The state-run Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation stopped the supply of fuel oil suddenly after Eid-ul-Fitr, owners of different filling stations said. Petobangla had supplied around 200,000 litres of petrol to Dinajpur depot from Khulna before Eid. A total of 1, 80,000 litres of diesel are needed to meet demand of the region everyday while the Parbatipur depot is now supplying 1, 80,000 litres of diesel a week.
An investigation should be launched to
find out why the state-run organisation stopped
supplying of diesel, petrol and octane suddenly
An official of a local Petrobangla office said he does not know when the next shipment of fuel oil will reach Parbatipur depot. Therefore, it did not supply even one litre of petrol to the depot after Eid which created a huge fuel crisis in the region.
Many owners shut their filling stations as they were running very low on stocks of Petrol, octane, and diesel used in running vehicles. Besides, many filling stations have already run dry.
For one week now, people of the eight districts of northern region are witnessing long queues for petrol, octane and diesel. However, taking the advantage many retailers are selling the fuel oil to the consumers at high rate. As an acute shortage of petrol hit north the price of petrol on the black market has also shot up there, locals alleged. Therefore, vehicles in eight northern districts are not getting fuel oil at the petrol pumps to run the wheels. The government last month approved a proposal for procuring some 3.75 lakh metric tons of fuel oil at a cost of Taka 4,054.38 crore to meet the growing demand of the country.
An investigation should be launched to find out why the state-run organisation stopped supplying of diesel, petrol and octane suddenly. Whether any quarter is trying to create an artificial fuel crisis or selling fuel at higher prices like edible oil?
We hope, the government will look into the matter seriously as the fuel supply across the country is supposed to be uninterrupted as there is sufficient stock of fuel oil including diesel.
The government should take prompt measures so that the filling stations get their required demand for fuel in the region as early as possible.