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.