Our Bureau

Chennai, July 1 Even as the Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu, Mr L.K. Tripathy, gave assurances that effective steps had been taken to ensure enough availability of petrol and diesel at retail outlets, many petrol bunks in the city continued to feel the pinch of the shortage.

Long queues of anxious customers wanting to fill in their tanks were a common feature at the bunks. In many areas, the queues disrupted traffic.

However, the President of Tamil Nadu Petroleum Dealers’ Association, Mr M Kannan, said oil companies have raised supplies and retail outlets have been receiving their supplies. The situation would improve further, especially for diesel supplies, latter in the evening as the oil companies have decided to extended delivery time, he added.

At a hurriedly convened press conference here today, Mr Tripathy said that at the behest of the State Government, Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd, whose refinery caters to all the outlets of Indian Oil Corporation, HPCL and BPCL, increased its supplies.

But more importantly, it is understood that a shipment carrying supplies for BPCL, whose delay in arriving may have precipitated the shortage situation, would arrive in a day.

Over the last couple of months, consumption of diesel was substantially higher, as industries bought diesel for running their gensets for power generation.

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