Diesel ‘shortage’ results in long queues at bus depot

Thiruvananthapuram: Due to shortage of diesel in all the depots of Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) in the district, the Thampanoor bus depot witnessed long queues of buses on Tuesday.
Of the 20 KSRTC depots in the district, only Thampanoor depot had the stock of diesel on Tuesday. It forced KSRTC buses from all other depots to fill fuel from Thampanoor when they arrived during service.
Due to this, the services of a few buses got delayed and passengers had to wait for a long time to catch buses.
The city unit officer of Thampanoor depot said the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) supplies only less quantity of fuel in all the depots for the last couple of days citing shortage of enough tankers for transportation.
“Usually, Thampanoor depot gets one lakhs litres of diesel once in every three days. However, only 60,000 to 70,000 litres of diesel are being supplied to the depot here nowadays. In all the other depots, only less than half of the required fuel is supplied. It created a shortage across the city and buses from all over the district were forced to depend on Thampanoor depot for fuel. Many services were stopped in some depots as well,” said the officer.
When contacted, a sales officer of the IOC said there is no shortage of diesel at any of its plants and the reason for shortage must be explained by the people in the Kochi office.