The Suvendu Adhikari government has relaxed curbs on the quantity and sale of diesel in containers and barrels for essential sectors, including agriculture, healthcare and tea.
The policy intervention follows mounting concerns from rural districts and industrial bodies that the Centre's recently imposed fuel curbs were disrupting daily operations, agriculture work and emergency services across Bengal.
According to the rules, retail outlets were allowed to dispense diesel into vehicle tanks or PESO-approved containers with a ceiling of 200 litres per day per customer/vehicle. Diesel purchased at retail outlets were not supposed to be resold. The curbs were imposed on June 12, when the US-Israel-Iran conflict was showing no signs of abating, straining India’s oil imports and the government’s finances.
On Sunday, chief minister Suvendu Adhikari issued a statement on X confirming that the BJP-led Bengal government directed major oil companies to completely exempt critical sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, food supply, public utility services, and tea gardens from the diesel curbs.
Under the relaxed guidelines issued to the major oil marketing companies, the maximum daily supply limit previously set for retail customers has been removed for these eligible categories.
"Our government is always committed to ensuring that the daily lives of ordinary people, emergency services, and the state's economy continue to progress smoothly without any hindrance," Suvendu wrote.
"Recently, a ban on supplying diesel in containers (vessels) was imposed, which severely distressed our hardworking farmer brothers, various hospitals, and emergency service providers in their operations. To safeguard the interests of the general public, the West Bengal government intervened immediately," he added. "We have directed the major oil companies to completely exempt vital sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, food supply, public services, and tea gardens from the fuel restriction regulations."
The chief minister further added: "Individuals, organisations, and customers associated with all these essential departments can now easily purchase and carry diesel in containers or barrels, and the maximum daily limit for providing fuel to such customers has also been relaxed. To obtain diesel hassle-free at the pumps, simply presenting basic identification documents will suffice."
The relaxation provides immediate relief to the agricultural sector across Bengal as cultivators prepare for the kharif season.
The timing of the intervention is critical for the rural economy, as farmers are currently entering the high-stakes window where they must prepare their fields to sow paddy saplings.
Because farm machinery like tractors cannot easily be driven to highway fuel stations, transporting diesel in containers directly to the fields is a logistical necessity for daily farming operations.
Furthermore, the state's agricultural departments remain highly dependent on mechanised irrigation due to the unpredictable nature of early monsoon showers. In the event of a prolonged rainfall deficit, smallholders depend entirely on their diesel-powered submersible pumps to keep their fragile seedbeds from drying up. Agriculture department sources noted that allowing container sales prevents a scenario where a lack of fuel mobility would threaten to starve the pumps that sustain paddy, the state's primary staple crop.
The administrative decision was also welcomed in north Bengal, where the fuel ban had begun to choke tea operations.
The container restrictions coincided with the critical second flush harvest, a high-value production period that dictates the hills' financial survival for the entire fiscal year.
"The Darjeeling tea industry welcomes the relaxation in diesel sale restrictions for containers and the limit on diesel supply to tea industry. Such measures were impacting the functioning of the tea industry during the crucial second flush period," said Sandeep Mukherjee, principal adviser to the Darjeeling Tea Association.
According to tea industry officials, factories in hills frequently deal with unstable grid power and rely heavily on large, container-fed diesel generators to keep processing units running. Any disruption in fuel transport directly affects drying the delicate green leaves, which can then rot on the factory floor.
"By ordering major oil marketing companies to clear these exemptions, the state government has effectively dismantled the enforcement framework that required retail fuel outlets to police container sales and cross-examine buyers," said a retired IAS officer. "The new directive ensures that essential supply chains remain uninterrupted."
