By IANS,
Chandigarh : The panic button was pressed Friday when many petrol pumps of Chandigarh and its neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana went dry on the third day of the indefinite strike by officers of public sector oil companies.
Long queues of harried customers carrying additional containers could be seen during the early hours of Friday at various filling stations even before the petrol pumps opened.
“I am standing in the queue for the last one hour to get the tank of my car filled. Normal petrol is available nowhere and we are forced to buy branded petrol that is more expensive than the normal one,” said Nishant Jain, who was standing in a queue that was a kilometre long.
Stock of about 70 percent of the 42 petrol pumps here is exhausted. Only the pumps of Hindustan Petroleum (HP) are supplying fuel as its officers are staying away from the strike.
There are 12 HP petrol pumps in Chandigarh.
The administration here has appealed to HP to ensure regular fuel supply in the city.
“Very limited reserve of petrol and diesel is left at my petrol pumps and there are long queues outside since morning. People are getting the tanks of their vehicles full out of the fear that no fuel will be left if this strike continues,” Harmanjit Singh Deol, owner of Dashmesh petrol stations in Barnala and Patiala districts in Punjab, told IANS.