You can see it in the numbers from the state’s Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Department. In the first half of May, consumption took a hard turn upward. Petrol was up 20.39 per cent and diesel 19.66 per cent on what would be a normal month. The high point came on May 19, with diesel and petrol leaping 42 and 21 per cent respectively over the daily average. And yet, officials will tell you every bit of that was met without a hitch.
Official stance and reassurance
Food and Civil Supplies Minister Chhagan Bhujbal has been at the forefront of this. He says the rush is all about fear and has asked people to put the brakes on hoarding. “We have enough stock in the state,” he said, adding that both the Centre and the state are on top of things and there’s no reason to listen to talk of a shortage.
The Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis, has made the same point, as has Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has called for some sense given what’s happening in the world. District-wise allocations are right on time, so there is no need to pile up inventory.
Where demand overheated
In some places, the effect has been stark. Marathwada and Vidarbha have seen the most of it. In Akola, for instance, diesel sales were 111 per cent higher than usual. Washim wasn’t far behind with a 109 per cent jump in diesel and 42 per cent in petrol. Then you have Jalgaon, where petrol is up 40 per cent and diesel 72 per cent. Beed, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, and a few others like Buldhana and Latur have also reported well above the norm.
To clarify the hotspots and scale of movement, here are key district-level surges cited by officials:
– Akola: diesel up 111 per cent
– Washim: diesel up 109 per cent, petrol up 42 per cent
– Jalgaon: diesel up 72 per cent, petrol up 40 per cent
– Beed: diesel up 63 per cent
– Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: diesel up 49 per cent
Supply chain strain versus ground reality
But not everyone is seeing it the way the state does. Some fuel dealers are talking of delays from the oil companies and credit being called in, which has only made the queues longer and the mood more tense. There were reports earlier in the week that a good 20-25 per cent of the 8,100 or so pumps in the state, particularly in the hinterlands, had to put up with some hiccups.
Impact on rural operations
That kind of thing is a headache for farmers in Vidarbha and elsewhere as they get ready for the monsoon. They say some pumps have put a lid on diesel at 10-15 litres a day for a tractor, making field work a lot harder.
Bhujbal has a different take. He says the administration is watching distribution closely and there is nothing to worry about. Just buy what you need and let us do our job.
At the end of the day, it comes down to confidence. If you don’t, the spike in sales will even out and we won’t put any undue pressure on last-mile delivery. The department is firm on this: we supplied every litre in the mid-May run-up. We have the stock and the capacity.
What comes next
Still, there is a risk when rumour-mongering gets ahead of logistics. What we’ve seen in Maharashtra this month is a case in point: sentiment can change the market in a hurry, and sometimes a word is as important as the fuel in the tank.
