Ranchi, July 15: Petrol dealers today warned that the state would soon be in the grip of a severe fuel shortage unless oil companies took immediate steps to improve supply.

The demand is exceeding supply and that is causing some shortage, said Jharkhand Petroleum Dealers’ Association (JPDA) office-bearers. The failure to address the situation will create a situation like Chennai, which was in the midst of rampant shortage for three days recently, they warned.

“The average annual demand for petroleum products in the state is known to grow at 23 per cent. Against the normal rise in demand, the three oil companies — Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindusthan Petroleum — are reluctant to raise the quota of dealers by more than 7 per cent,” said JPDA president Ashok Singh.

The association also said that restriction in supply of ordinary-grade petrol and diesel was aggravating the problem. The focus of the oil companies to push only premium petrol and diesel, which are costly, is the reason for this, they said.

Most of the days retail outlets in the state do not have enough stock of ordinary petrol and High-Speed diesel. Thus, consumers are being compelled to buy premium fuel, they added. The association members also announced that they would meet the state co-ordinator of oil industry, Sivasis Dey, on July 17 to sort out the issues.

However, Dey, also Indian Oil’s chief divisional retail manager, refuted the allegations of the dealers.

“There are no restrictions on supply. All such allegations are misleading. The demand for premium grade petrol and diesel is on the rise every year. Hence, Indian Oil has no option but to cater to the demand,” Dey said.

The JPDA also went to Governor Syed Sibtey Razi with a memorandum stating that oil prices were being hiked regularly but no efforts were being made to allow a hike in the dealers’ commission. “Our operating costs have increased considerably due to hike in minimum wages and other reasons but the commission has been static,” the memorandum said.

The JPDA has demanded that it would be pertinent to change their commission format from fixed basis to percentage basis to ensure that petrol outlets remained open.

The memorandum further demanded rationalising of sales tax on petroleum products and a reduction of tax from 14.5 per cent to 8 per cent on diesel and from 20 per cent to 12 per cent on petrol.