Acting on the directions of the chief minister, Bhagwant Mann, a high-level meeting involving senior state and district officials was convened to monitor the distribution of petrol in diesel in the State of Punjab.

Sharing the details with a section of media persons after the meeting, Gurkirat Kirpal Singh, home secretary, Punjab said that there was no need for the public to panic as adequate stock of petrol and diesel is available in the State. Against a daily consumption of about 4100 KL of petrol, the stock of petrol in various petrol pumps across the State is about 22,600 KL and the same shall be replenished from time to time, he said. Similarly, the state consumes about 10000 KL of diesel daily and the stock with the filling stations is currently more than 30,000 KL and 90000 KL is also available at various terminals, he added. All the terminals are connected through pipelines with the respective refineries and there’s a constant flow of petroleum products to these terminals.

Commenting upon the media reports regarding the acute shortage of petrol/diesel in certain filling stations, the home secretary said that at any point in time, the stock is not uniformly positioned in all the filling stations. While certain filling stations may be at zero level others may have full stock and, therefore, the stock position of a few filling stations should not be used to reflect the position of total stocks in the State.

The home secretary appealed to the public to refrain from panic buying as they are putting themselves in unnecessary trouble in the cold weather.

During the meeting district officials were asked to remain vigilant and ensure smooth movement of petrol and diesel trucks across the state. They were also asked to have meetings with the section of striking transporters to facilitate the redressal of their grievance. The police were also asked to remain vigilant to ensure smooth and uninterrupted movement and sale of diesel/ petrol across the state.

Senior officers of IOC, BPCL and HPCL, who were present in the meeting, assured the State Government that they would leave no stone unturned in ensuring adequate supply of petrol, diesel and LPG in the State.

The meeting was also attended by Sh. Arpit Shukla, DGP Law and Order, Sh. Puneet Goyal, Director, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Ms Anjuman Bhaskar, Additional Director, Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Sh. Jagdeep Rana, CGM, IOC, Sh. Sanjay Nagpal, GM Operation & Distribution, HPCL, Sh. Deepak Trivedi, Chief Manager (Retail), BPCL apart from senior officials of the District Administration.