From Aug 8, no petrol on Sundays

NAGPUR: Sunday closed. If you thought that only shops have this sign, think again. Soon, even petrol pumps in the city will remain closed on Sunday.

Worse, the Nagpur Petrol and High Speed Dealers (HSD) association has also decided to keep petrol pumps open only for 12 hours, that is, from 8 am to 8 pm from Monday to Saturday.

The decision was taken considering the shortage of fuel and rush of customers. Till now, petrol pumps would remain open until 11 pm. However, this decision will not be applicable to company-owned pumps.

With petroleum companies also reported to have curbed supplies in order to reduce their losses owing to crude costs, petrol rationing may be the order of the day in the coming times.

"All the 110 petrol pumps in and around Nagpur city will only remain open from 8 am to 8 pm and remain shut on Sunday from August 8," said the association's president Mohabbatsingh Tuli. The date was decided looking into its 'numerological' value, as the date from when the 12-hour norm will be observed is 8-8-08, said Tuli. This would be on permanent basis, and it is hoped that all the members will adhere to the norm, he added.

Meanwhile, Saturday was one more day which witnessed fuel shortage. There were long queues of people waiting their turns at the petrol pumps. Some pumps had to replenish their tanks twice in the day.

Dealers have also stopped running the pumps using generators during load-shedding hours. Meanwhile, oil company officials have been denying of any reduction in supply from their side. A senior official from Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) in Mumbai said there is no dearth of stock anywhere and supply has been normal as ever.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Nagpur/From_Aug_8_no_petrol_on_Sundays/articleshow/3319962.cms