‘If I get on my vehicle, I will have to push it home’

“Depots are supplying seven days a week in order to keep fuel supply regular,” a depot official says

The severe fuel crisis across Bangladesh is paralysing the general public. Most pumps are not supplying fuel sufficient to demand. Private vehicles and motorcyclists in particular are not getting oil even after roaming from one pump to another.

On Sunday morning, motorcycle driver named Mizan was at the “Chowrangee Filling Station” in the signboard area of the Dhaka-Chattogram highway. After running out of fuel during his travels, he was stuck in a terrible dilemma.

Mizan said, "Oil is coming to the country. It isn’t that there is no oil. The government is saying that there is sufficient oil in stock. But when we take to the road, we can’t find any oil. If we take our vehicles on the road, we have to push them home."

Most of the oil pumps in Narayanganj district have stopped selling oil. Those that are selling fuel are rationing it. Drivers say the amount they provide is insufficient to their need.

Drivers have also complained that oil was being sold at “excess prices” at retail markets even though fuel is not available at filling stations.

Mustafizur Rahman had set off from Kanchpur on his motorcycle to go to his sisters in-laws' house in Munshiganj. His elderly father was with him. When his fuel ran out along the way, the two of them pushed the motorcycle to Chowrangee Filling Station. There they found a “no fuel” sign hung up.

The exhausted father and son collapsed under a nearby tree to rest after their ordeal in the hot sun.

Mustafizur said, "We got here with great difficulty after the fuel ran out. But once we arrived, I heard there was no fuel. Now I don't know what to do."

Workers at the filling station say they have not had fuel since last Thursday. Despite sending vehicles to the depot several times, they were unable to stock up.

A vehicle was also sent to the depot on Sunday morning, but it did not return until 2pm. An official at the filling station said that if oil is available from the depot, it will be sold at the station.

The station employees could be seen wasting time as sales were suspended. Some of them were reading newspapers, while others whiled away the time chatting.

Within the span of 10 minutes, seven motorcycles had come to the filling station for oil and turned away annoyed when they saw none was available.

Asked about the situation, Mahbubur Rahman, official-in-charge of Meghna Depot in Narayanganj’s Godnail said: “Oil is now being supplied from the depot seven days a week to keep the supply normal. We are sending the amount that is specified to us.”