Trade bodies in Belagavi demand retail sale of petrol in cans

Belagavi traders request permission for retail petrol sales in cans to support power generation amid frequent outages.

Members of Traders’ Forum have urged the Belagavi district administration to permit retail sale of fuel in cans, to be used in industries and other essential services.

In a letter to Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Roshan, they said they were facing practical difficulties due to restriction on supply of petrol in loose cans and bottles at petrol pumps. “We are facing hardship for genuine commercial and industrial users who depend on generators for uninterrupted functioning. At present, frequent power cuts are being experienced in several parts of Belagavi, either due to uncertain rains or due to infrastructure developmental work. Due to this, generators have become unavoidable for running shops, textile establishments, industries, offices, hospitals, hotels, cold storage units, medical stores, billing systems, banking transactions and other essential services. We are facing losses and disruption in business,” they stated.

They demanded the controlled supply of petrol in limited quantity through cans for genuine generator use, by issuing guidelines to sellers.

The letter has been signed by office-bearers Satish Tendulkar, Mukesh Khoda, and Vikas Kalghatagi.

The government of Karnataka issued a notice to people stating there is no major shortage of autogas.

“​There is a minor shortage in only a few private auto gas supply companies. To remedy this, more gas is being supplied by State-owned oil companies IOC (Indian Oil), BPC (Bharat Petroleum) and HPC (Hindustan Petroleum). ​Earlier, these three companies were supplying an average of 56.67 metric tonnes of auto gas. However, to meet the current demand, the supply has been increased significantly. Currently, an average of 83.58 metric tonnes of gas is being supplied to retail outlets every day. But now, there is stable supply,” according to a statement from the government.