Diesel Shortage In Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh

There has been an acute shortage of diesel in certain pockets in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. This follows an unusual spurt in the demand for diesel from the agriculture sector in these two states.

While daily demand for diesel in Rajasthan has jumped to 7,500 kilo litres against 6,700 kilo litres last year, the demand in Uttar Pradesh has gone up to 6,300 kilo litre compared to 5,500 kilo litres during 1996.

Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh have large areas under wheat cultivation that need to be heavily irrigated. Moreover, western Uttar Pradesh has devoted large areas to the cane crop which also needs good irrigation. The failure of winter rains have led the farmers to use diesel-driven pumps resulting in the spurt in demand for diesel.

But officials are at a loss to explain the rise in demand in eastern Uttar Pradesh where it has shot up by a whopping 27 per cent. Eastern Uttar Pradesh is largely unirrigated and a large acreage here is under coarse grains which do not need much irrigation. Therefore, though winter rains have failed in this part of Uttar Pradesh, greater demand for diesel from the farm sector in this region has caught the petroleum marketing companies unawares.

Marketing companies say though a sufficient number of tankers have reached Kandla port, they are unable to offload because of berthing problems. The two virtual jetties there, which were commissioned last year, are out of operation for more than three months following accidents. Demand from the other two wheat-growing states of Punjab and Haryana is being met from the Mathura refinery. Diesel is being transported to these states through the Mathura-Jalandhar pipeline.