3 days truck drivers strike lead to panic buying of petrol, diesel; rumour about PM Modi’s announcement worsened the situation
Kanwar Inder singh/ royalaptiala.in News/ January 2,2024
Truck drivers at all India level has called a three day strike from the beginning of 2024 i.e. from January 1 to 3 ,2024 to revoke the new amendment made in the law and against stringent jail and fine norms in ‘hit and run’ case.
As per Punjab petrol pump dealers association spokesperson Monty sehgal, “40 percent of the petrol pump dried up on the first day of the January 1,2024 and by January 2,2024 evening all the petrol pumps in Punjab will become empty.”
He further added that “after the news of strike spreads by January 1 evening the customers start buying fuel in panic. If we as a petrol pump rationed the oil, giving limited oil to every buyer, the customer is fighting with us to full the tank of his vehicle. The govt , administration failed to understand the gravity of the situation and to solve the issue. ”
Harsehajveer Singh a student said ” social media is “added fuel to the fire”. Some local facebook, Instagram pages are posting pictures, videos of long queues, fighting with petrol pump staff and asking residents to ” if you need to refuel your vehicle, it’s advisable to do so promptly.'” The local administration must take action against them for creating panic.”
A petrol pump owner said that “a petrol pump has a capacity to store a stock of oils (petrol/ diesel) for 3-5 days, depending upon the petrol pump sale, size, tank capacity. Someone has spread rumours that on December 31,2023 PM Modi is going to announce about reduction of oil prices (petrol, diesel) by Rs 10 from January 1,2024. This lead to non, lesser procurement of oils (petrol, diesel) by petrol pump owners in the last days of December 2023 as the pump owners feared to face a financial loss. This step of the petrol pump owners also aggravated the situation. That’s why the 40 percent petrol pump stations gone dry on the first and rest 60 percent will dry up by today evening. “
Monty Sehgal also added that “ our Punjab petrol pump dealer association’s core committee is meeting at 2:30 pm to chalk out further strategy, to take decision on the prevailing situation.”
On the other hand the government had taken the call of truck drivers lightly, in a soft way and due to truck drivers strike a panic buying of petrol, diesel arises amongst residents at almost every part of the country.
The residents are recklessly filing their two wheeler, four wheeler out in panic. They are spreading the rumours which are leading to the panic buying amongst the vehicle owners.
What is the new ‘hit-and-run’ law?
Under the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS), which replaced the colonial-era Indian Penal Code, drivers who cause a serious road accident by negligent driving and run away without informing the police or any official from the administration can face punishment of up to 10 years or a fine of Rs 7 lakh. Earlier, the punishment in such cases was two years in the IPC.
