Pumping up the message

Oil marketing companies have been trying to raise petrol prices for many months but the government, wary of political pressures from its allies, has not been allowing them to do so. Maybe that is why the BPCL-owned fuel outlet on Race Course Road, opposite Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's official residence, has put up a message advising customers to fill their tanks since prices are set to go up. The intention is to boost sales, of course — but perhaps also to send signals across the road to Singh.