New Delhi, Mar 12 (PTI) The government on Thursday said there was no shortage of petrol, diesel, kerosene or aviation turbine fuel in India after the Opposition criticised it over the handling of the fallout of the West Asia crisis by citing instances of scarcity and panic buying across the country.
Responding to concerns raised by Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha, Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Puri said it was the foremost priority of the government that the kitchens of over 33 crore families, especially the poor and the underprivileged, did not face any shortage of gas.
Domestic supply was fully protected and the delivery cycle unchanged, he said.
“There is no shortage of petrol, diesel, kerosene, aviation turbine fuel or fuel oil. The availability of petrol, diesel, aviation turbine fuel, kerosene, and fuel oil is fully assured,” Puri said.
He said retail outlets across the country were well stocked, supply chains were functioning normally, and additional allocation of PDS (public distribution system) kerosene had been issued to all the states.
Gandhi alleged that the government “bartered” to the US India’s right to determine its relationships with different oil suppliers due to a “compromise”, adding that the war between the US-Israel and Iran was going to have far-reaching consequences.
“The central artery from where 20 per cent of global oil flows, the Strait of Hormuz, has been closed and this is going to have tremendous repercussions, particularly for us because a very large portion of our oil and natural gas comes through the Strait of Hormuz,” Gandhi said.
“The pain has just started — restaurants are closing, there is widespread panic about LPG, street vendors are affected and, as I said, this is only the beginning,” the former Congress president said.
The foundation of every single nation is its energy security, Gandhi asserted.
“I do not say this lightly, but allowing the US to decide who we buy oil, gas from… whether we buy oil from Russia or not, whether our relationship with different oil suppliers can be decided by us, this is what has been bartered,” the Congress leader said.
Hitting back shortly thereafter, Puri said alarmist statements during the crisis were irresponsible.
“This is not the moment for rumour-mongering or fake narratives. India is navigating the most severe global energy disruption in recorded history,” he said, adding that crude supply was flowing and gas was prioritised for homes and farms.
“Consumer prices are held far below what markets and regional comparators would dictate. Schools are open. Petrol is on the forecourt. Every citizen, regardless of political affiliation, has a stake in that,” he said.
“India must stand united behind its energy warriors, behind the institutions managing this crisis, and behind the national interest.” Amid sloganeering by Opposition members, the minister said that due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s effective diplomatic outreach, India secured crude volumes that exceeded what the disrupted Strait of Hormuz route would have delivered in the same period.
Earlier, Gandhi triggered an uproar in the treasury benches by alleging that the fuel crisis had to do with Puri’s friendship with deceased American financier Jeffrey Epstein.
“This is a very puzzling fact for me, this is a very puzzling fact as to why a nation the size of India would allow the president of any other nation to give us permission to buy Russian oil, to decide who our relationships are with,” Gandhi said in an apparent reference to the US giving a 30-day waiver for India to buy oil from Russia.
“This has been a puzzle and I have been trying to figure this puzzle out. I have figured the puzzle out.
“The puzzle is about compromise. We have a gentleman sitting here who is the oil minister (Hardeep Puri), he himself has said that he is a friend of Mr Epstein,” Gandhi said, adding, “I have a document which shows his (Puri’s) daughter has received money from George Soros.” Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla asked Gandhi to speak on the notice he had given and not digress. As Gandhi repeatedly asserted that what he was saying was connected with the country’s energy security, Birla asked Puri to make his statement.
Puri informed the House that crude oil was currently sourced from 40 countries, as against 27 in 2006-07, giving the country the advantage of a diversified supply mix.
“The world has not faced a moment like this in modern energy history,” he said.
He said a neighbouring country shut all schools for two weeks, moved government offices to a four-day work week, ordered 50 per cent of public employees to work from home, cut fuel allowances for official vehicles by half, and took 60 per cent of government vehicles off the road.
Another neighbour, he said, closed universities early and brought forward the Eid al-Fitr holiday to save fuel.
Countries in Southeast Asia had to undertake energy rationing and conservation measures, he said.
“The House should be clear: the rush-booking pressure in some localities reflects a demand distortion, not a production or supply failure,” he said on the LPG situation.
A 25-day minimum booking gap has been introduced as a demand management measure in urban areas and 45 days in rural and remote areas.
Puri said commercial LPG was regulated to prevent black marketing, not to penalise the hospitality sector.
Commercial LPG was sold in a completely deregulated, over-the-counter market at market price, without any government subsidy. There is no registration system, no booking requirement, no digital authentication, and no delivery confirmation mechanism, he said.
“In a supply-constrained environment where public anxiety is elevated, this deregulated structure creates a direct and uncontrolled pathway for hoarding, diversion, and resale at inflated prices,” he said, adding that had commercial supply been left entirely unrestricted, cylinders purchased over the counter could have been diverted to the grey market at the expense of genuine commercial consumers and domestic households alike.
The government, he said, had taken the responsible course to regulate the channel with clear priorities and a transparent allocation mechanism. PTI RR NAB CS MNK ASK KSS BAL SAP SAP
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