Due to the strike by commercial vehicle drivers, including truckers and tankers, who are opposing the new penal law's hit-and-run clause, many gas pumps, especially in hill stations and isolated areas, are either completely dry or about to run out of auto fuel.
In major metropolis like Mumbai, New Delhi, and the National Capital Territory of Delhi, pumps are currently operating and selling both gasoline and diesel; however, a short check of retail stores nationwide indicated that supplies are disrupted in the smaller towns and suburban areas. Truck drivers are staging protests against the new Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which was designed to replace the Indian Penal Code and stipulates that a driver involved in a hit-and-run incident might be imprisoned for up to ten years.
An anonymous pump dealer headquartered in Maharashtra stated that oil tankers intended to transport gasoline from refiners' depots across the country are stuck because their drivers won't drive because they oppose the new law or are afraid of the demonstrator's retaliation.
A dealer from Delhi, who operates three pumps in the National Capital Region (NCR), said he prepared for the circumstance by stockpiling adequate fuel and expected oil marketing organizations to find a means to maintain supplies. Emails to Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), three state-run oil refiners, have not yet been answered. In India, the three public sector companies hold nearly 90% of the retail petroleum industry. A answer to a query submitted to the petroleum ministry is also awaited. As protestors are preventing oil tankers from passing, dealers in Chandigarh warned that the situation in Punjab and Haryana could worsen.
