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Long queues for fuel as petrol pumps run out of stocks

New Delhi, Jan 8 (IANS) Serpentine queues were seen outside petrol pumps across the country as alarmed vehicle owners tried to stock up on fuel as petrol vends started to run dry Thursday on the second day of a nationwide strike by employees of public sector oil companies.

Many leaders of the agitating workers went underground fearing arrests under the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA), which many state governments invoked to tackle the employees' strike which the Delhi High Court has ruled illegal.

The oil sector officers' association, an umbrella organisation of 45,000 employees in the public oil sector companies, called for an indefinite strike from Wednesday to force the government to give them wage hikes.

But consumers have already started feeling the impact. A large number of petrol vends ran out of stocks after they did not get replenishments of petroleum products.

At a petrol vend on the Delhi-Gurgaon highway, employees had to turn away trucks and other vehicles as there were no stocks left of petrol and diesel. 'We have gone dry since 4 p.m. yesterday (Wednesday),' said the manager of the Rajasthan Highway Service Station, Sunil Yadav.

Traffic jams were witnessed at several places in the national capital Thursday evening as people queued up with their vehicles at retail petrol vends fearing they would not get fuel on Friday.

At an outlet in north Delhi, manager Mahavir Jain feared that his stocks would be exhausted by evening due to the high demand. 'All the three pumps nearby have gone dry and we have a demand which is three to four times the normal. I am afraid that our stocks will end by evening, but the next supply is doubtful,' he said.

Is Pakistan climbing down from its denial mode?

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said that US President George W Bush's telephone call to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has had a positive outcome. Speaking in an interview, he said that it has helped bring down tensions.

No clear winner from Indian Kashmir vote

No clear winner emerged from state elections in Jammu and Kashmir after counting closed on Sunday, with a period of uncertainty expected in the disputed region before a coalition is cobbled together. Counting of votes for 87 assembly seats in disputed Jammu and Kashmir ended after a marathon seven-stage election that ended on Wednesday in Srinagar.

Relson India reports net loss of Rs 0.01 crore in the September 2008 quarter

Relson India reported net loss of Rs 0.01 crore in the quarter ended September 2008 as against net loss of Rs 0.05 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2007. Sales remained constant at Rs 0.01 crore in the quarter ended September 2008 and also during the previous quarter ended September 2007.

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Mayawati rejects CBI probe into engineer's death

The killing of a PWD engineer in Uttar Pradesh allegedly by supporters of Chief Minister Mayawati and a BSP MLA snowballed into a major controversy as the Opposition Samajwadi Party took to streets demanding the BSP leader's resignation.

But the gritty UP Chief Minister has come out in open accusing the previous government of creating law and order problem.

Calling the engineer's death as 'unfortunate', Mayawati said this is a propaganda by the opposition parties.

Speaking at a press conference, she said, "Murder of engineer seems to have been inspired by commissioning of contracts. And it's unfortunate that this crime has been linked to fund-raising for my birthday."