Shortage rumours fuel panic buying in Punjab, officials say ample stock

Amritsar/Jalandhar/Sangrur: Panic buying and hoarding triggered by false social media rumours disrupted fuel supplies across Punjab districts on Friday.

Misleading reports linked the ongoing West Asia conflict to a potential domestic fuel shortage, prompting a rush of commuters to petrol pumps since Thursday afternoon. District administrations in Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur, Shaheed Bhagat Singh (SBS) Nagar, and Amritsar have issued appeals urging citizens to ignore the rumours, as oil companies assured the government that supply lines remain normal.

Stocking up in Sangrur

Driven by anxieties over the escalating conflict and rumours of a shortage, consumers in Sangrur and Barnala began attempting to stock diesel in private containers. Dolly Goel from Prem Filling Station in Sangrur said panicked customers demanded fuel in cans and bottles, but following guidelines from fuel companies, stations were only refuelling vehicles and refusing to fill extra containers.

A similar situation prevailed in adjoining Barnala district. Uttam Bansal, the owner of Madan Lal Filling Station, noted that the rush peaks in the evening hours, with consumers arriving with drums and containers, only to be turned away as per instructions. The surge has left some commuters struggling to secure even basic amounts of fuel. In Bahadarpur, local commuter Jagdish Singh said he had been turned away as station workers waited for fresh tankers to arrive.

Sangrur district food and supply controller Gurpreet Singh said that the panic is purely rumour-driven, noting that localised shortages are the result of the rush and that stocks are being replenished. Sangrur deputy commissioner Rahul Chaba said that oil marketing companies are monitoring pumps, assuring the public there is no need to panic.

Queues in Amritsar

The situation aggravated in Amritsar on Thursday afternoon after a price hike by a private retailer worsened public concerns. Chaos and serpentine queues were reported across the city, lasting well into the night. Due to the rise in demand, many filling stations exhausted their supplies and were forced to put up “out of stock” boards by Friday morning, leaving commuters returning empty-handed before fresh supplies arrived.

To address the situation, a review meeting was convened under the directions of Amritsar deputy commissioner Dalwinderjit Singh. Led by district food and civil supplies controller Harveen Kaur, the meeting brought together sales officers from oil marketing companies. The dealers and oil companies clarified that daily replenishment is arriving as per schedule. As replenishment trucks arrived and pumps resumed sales on Friday, queues resurfaced across the city.

Stability returns to Doaba

In the Doaba region, the heavy rush seen on Thursday night subsided by Friday morning as operations stabilised. Jalandhar deputy commissioner Himanshu Aggarwal said that oil distributors have confirmed ample stocks, reiterating that the panic was driven purely by fake social media posts. Aggarwal added that enforcement teams have been deployed district-wide to monitor and check any illegal hoarding.

In Hoshiarpur, deputy commissioner Aashika Jain said that petroleum and LPG supplies are running smoothly. While commercial LPG is being supplied with certain caps, domestic LPG remains unaffected. Jain cautioned that hoarding would not be tolerated and that the administration is regularly reviewing the supply chain with oil and natural gas agency representatives to ensure smooth operations. (Inputs by Surjit Singh, Navrajdeep Singh and Muskan)