BAREILLY: The city may face a fuel crunch if supplies are not replenished soon. Petrol pumps have stocks for the next two days only, said Indian Oil Company ( IOC ) officials here on Thursday after administrative authorities stopped tankers of various petroleum companies carrying fuel to petrol pumps. The tankers were stopped two days before the previously announced date of July 22 for the kanwar yatra.Officials of IOC met additional district magistrate (city) Alok Kumar and said that they were informed earlier that from Saturday, the entry of fuel tankers would be restricted due to the kanwar yatra, However, the oil tankers were stopped two days earlier. They said if the tankers were stopped from entering the city, it might be staring at an imminent fuel shortage.ADM Alok Kumar said, "The superintendent of police (traffic) has been asked to look into the matter. Perhaps, there was some communication gap between oil companies and police. The officials concerned are being instructed to sort out the matter as oil is an essential commodity."Petroleum companies in the public sector, including IOC, Bharat Petroleum (BP) and Hindustan Petroleum (HP), have their depots to stock oil in Aonla tehsil where it is ferried by the railways, From Aonla, they supply oil to petrol pumps in Bareilly, Rampur, Pilibhit and Shahjahanpur districts.Every year, during the kanwar season, the administration informs the oil companies well in advance about the days when roads are blocked to facilitate the yatra. Normally, the traffic is stopped for a couple of days.The sales officer of IOC, Praveen Prabhakar, told TOI, "This year, we were informed that from Saturday morning (July 22) to Monday evening (July 24), there will be a road block due to the kanwar rush. No heavy vehicle will allowed to ply on roads during these days. We have planned to supply fuel to petrol pumps accordingly but today(Thursday), all of sudden all our oil tankers have been stopped by the administration at Aonla."Everyday around 200 to 250 oil tankers ferry oil from the Aonla-based depots to petrol pumps in Bareilly and adjoining districts, the IOC official said.Having stopped oil tankers, the IOC officials contacted the district supply officer who sent them to the additional district officer as the matter required instructions from senior official at the ADM or DM level.

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