a sigh of relief 4 the chennaites........Chennai fuel crisis eases

Shortage of petrol and diesel in the city's outlets seemed to ease a bit towards the evening after started the day on a grim note.

Sources in the oil retail business said while the situation in south Chennai eased a bit, the condition in the northern part continued to pose challenges for the oil marketing companies like the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL).

Fuel retailers also noted that police had to be deployed outside city limits to avoid possible law and order problems.

Supply of petrol and diesel to the city fell drastically on Sunday evening when oil tankers meant for BPCL did not arrive on time, said the state-level coordinator for oil industry in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

Chennai Port officials said that the berth for the expected tankers were kept free for the last two days and the shortage of fuel in the city was due to non-arrival of the tankers.

No spokesperson from BPCL could be reached for comments.

The crisis was managed to some extent on Monday and early Tuesday morning with IOC and HPCL outlets taking some of the demand load off BPCL outlets.

When similar shortage was experienced last week in many outlets across the city and its suburbs, the state-level coordinator of oil industry had denied any shortfall in fuel supply.

Large manufacturing and information technology companies in and around Chennai, where a majority of workers and staff commute using public and private transport, remained unaffected today despite many fuel outlets in the city trying to ration the little stock left with them.

Major employers like Cognizant Technology Solutions, Cybernet-SlashSupport, Hyundai Motor India, Ford India and Nokia, who spoke to Business Standard, said the fuel shortage is yet to hit their operations.

However, they were not sure for how long they can hold on. These companies use transport contractors to ferry their workers in and out of their facilities. These companies together employ nearly 44,000 people.

A Gopalrathnam, director, Cybernet-SlashSupport(CSS) that employs around 5,000 people, said: "We are hopeful that things will improve soon; otherwise our business economics will go for a toss. There is a very insignificant percentage drop among the employees who come on their own."

Hyundai Motor India that employs nearly 3,000 people in each of its three shifts at its plant at Sriperumbudur factory said that work has been progressing without any disruption so far.