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.
