Team Herald
Panjim: Given that over one lakh cars have entered Goa for the New Year’s Eve party, it is clear that the overall sale of petrol and diesel has and will continue to shoot up.
In fact, they have soared up as compared to other days in December, primarily because Goa’s fuel prices are the lowest as compared to the neighbouring States of Karnataka and Maharashtra.
While the petrol price in Goa is at Rs 81.14, in Karnataka it is over Rs 86 and in Maharashtra it is over Rs 90 per litre. Goa has about 130 petrol pumps in the State with an average capacity of 20-30 kilolitres of stock in each petrol pump.
Experts in the field of petrol and diesel business when approached by Herald said that they were aware of this situation but they are also confident that there will be no shortage of fuel in Goa despite the sudden hike in the sales.
“We are still 30 per cent deficient in sales as compared to last year as many people are not travelling in Goa or outside of Goa. I am confident that there will be no shortage of fuel in Goa even if there are huge numbers of cars coming into Goa from neighbouring States,” said Paresh Joshi, President of Goa Petrol Dealers’ Association.
He further added that after the VAT on fuel was raised in Goa, there has been no major price difference from the neighbouring States and it is not a big draw for the people to double tank themselves.
“Every year these numbers of people come to Goa, even more, during the year end. This year the tourists have travelled in their own cars and since they are in their own cars they do not require public transportation or taxis, which balances the sale of fuel from retail outlets,” Paresh added.
Ashish Kumar Jain, Senior Manager, Corporate Communications and Retail Sales of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd was absolutely confident that even though there will be pressure on retail outlets, there will be no shortage of fuel in Goa.
“There is no shortage of fuel. Some of our retail outlets are only operating for 16 hours and at some places they are operating for 24 hours in important places like Panjim, and National Highways etc. If the sale volume increases, we can extend the operating hours of the retail outlets also and increase the number of nozzles as per government guidelines,” said Ashish added.
