Bhubaneswar: Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan Friday said 232 out of 234 filling stations in Puri, Khurda, and Cuttack districts are now functional and the remaining two would be operational by May 11.
Pradhan said this after having a review meeting with the senior officials of Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) here. He reviewed the availability of petroleum products, supply chain resumption and restoration work in Cyclone Fani-hit areas of above districts.
“Additional measures have been taken to manage the rush of two-wheelers in Puri city while normalcy has been restored in Nimapara, Brahmagiri and Satyabadi regions,” Pradhan said. Eight mini fuel tankers have been pressed into service for doorstep delivery of fuel to institutions such as government offices, banks, telecom operators and hospitals for uninterrupted power availability.
The current sales of fuel in Puri district has reached 3 lakh litres per day which is close to the normal consumption, it said, adding 200 out of 234 petrol pumps suffered severe damage due to Cyclone Fani. Plans have been drawn up for their restoration. Indian Oil Corp (IOC), the country’s biggest oil company, in a statement said its teams are working round-the-clock to maintain supplies and restore normalcy in the cyclone-affected districts of Odisha.
The company is also rushing 1,000 solar lanterns, 10,000 candles and 5,000 weather-proof flexible sheets to the state. “Stocks of petrol and diesel at all petrol pumps were topped up from April 30 in Ganjam, Khurda, Puri, Cuttack, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Bhadrak, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Dhenkanal and Gajapati – districts that were likely to be impacted by the cyclone,” it said, adding IOC operated its bulk storage installations at Jatni and Jharsuguda and LPG bottling plant at Jharsuguda even May 1 (Labour Day holiday) to ensure adequate stocks of petrol, diesel and LPG for the resellers.
Supplies were also topped up for major customers, especially those directly related to public services like Railways and the Coast Guard.
IOC Chairman Sanjiv Singh, Director (Refineries) BV Rama Gopal and Director (Marketing) Gurmeet Singh monitored the situation round-the-clock. Post-cyclone, IOC teams worked with contractors to clear the debris from the affected petrol pumps in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Puri. Fuel dispensing resumed from all pumps in Khurda/Cuttack district and Bhubaneswar city May 6.
CM seeks 1000 KL kerosene for Puri
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Friday urged Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to release an additional quota of 1,000 kilo litre (KL) of subsidised kerosene for cyclone-hit Puri. In a letter to Pradhan, Patnaik said power restoration work is in progress on war footing, but it will take some more time as extensive damage has been caused to Puri due to Cyclone Fani. Absence of electricity has led to a surge in demand for kerosene which people use to light their houses, he said. The Chief Minister requested Pradhan to allot an additional stock of 1000 KL to the wholesalers by the oil companies free of cost so that the state government can distribute it to the affected people without any charge.
