Kolkata fuel strike on; petrol pumps go dry

KOLKATA: With the indefinite strike by West Bengal Tankers Association entering its fourth day on Sunday, a large number of petrol pumps in the city and adjoining districts went dry due to lack of supply.
"Over 80 per cent of around 1,000 pumps in Kolkata, North and South 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly and Nadia have gone dry and the situation will worsen further tomorrow," Tushar Kanti Sen, president of West Bengal Petroleum Dealers Association said.
General Manager (East) Indian Oil Corporation Gautam Dutta, the state level coordinator of oil companies, admitted that the pumps have started going dry since last night. He said that some company-owned tankers supplied petroleum products to pumps on Saturday night from Mourigram terminal but that was 'inadequate'.
State transport minister Subhas Chakraborty will meet representatives of different associations and oil companies on Monday, before which there was little chance of an end to the stalemate.
President of the Joint Council of Bus Syndicates Sadhan Das said around 50 per cent of the city's private buses would be off the roads tomorrow, leading to hardship of commuters. The pressure was not felt so much today as it was a Sunday, though nearly 40 per cent buses are not plying.
Ajit Das of the striking Tankers' Association said that they would continue the stir unless their demand for higher transportation rate from Mourigram and Budge Budge terminals was met by oil companies.