bdnews24.com

By the time Md Israfil finally rolled his motorcycle into Talukdar Filling Station on Friday morning, he had already spent the night in line.

He had taken his place near the bridge by the lake at Zia Udyan around 8pm on Thursday, hoping that after hours of waiting he would at least leave with a tank of fuel. Instead, when he reached the front at about 7am, with only three motorcycles ahead of him, workers announced that the fuel was gone.

Around 30 motorcycles had already entered the pump compound by then. They too were told to return after Friday prayers. The gate was shut.

When bdnews24.com returned around 1:30pm, the owners of those bikes were still waiting outside.

Some had gone home and come back. Some had finished work and returned. Others had rested, done their shopping and then come back to check whether the fuel tanker had arrived. It still had not. Yet the line of vehicles waiting for fuel had already stretched past Zia Udyan and curved towards Khejur Bagan.

As the hours wore on, frustration had hardened into suspicion.

Those waiting said the government had still not admitted there was any shortage of fuel, even as long queues and repeated pump closures had become a daily ordeal across Dhaka.

Some alleged the authorities were either hiding the scale of the problem or failing to explain where the fuel was going.

Shahin Sarkar, who had joined the same queue shortly after 8pm, said pump workers began announcing towards dawn that stocks were running out.

“They said they could give fuel to at most 200 more bikes,” he said.

“At 7 in the morning, I got inside the pump compound. There were 28 motorcycles ahead of me. Then they stopped giving fuel.”

He said the anger was about more than the fuel itself.

“After staying awake all night, enduring mosquito bites, heat and dust, when you finally get inside and they say the fuel is over, how do you think that feels?” he said.

“We arranged the bikes in line ourselves and then started managing the wait. Some went home, some went to work. When one person came back, he brought food and water for the others. This is like a war situation.”

Israfil said he had already tried several pumps in Mirpur and Gabtoli before ending up in line here.

“The government keeps saying fuel is in stock, supply is normal, petrol and octane are produced in the country,” he said.

“Then why are we suffering like this?”

Others standing nearby echoed the same question.

One man, who did not want to be named, said people had been following reports of fuel problems abroad because of the conflict in the Middle East.

“We are seeing on television and in the papers that there are shortages in many countries, and that some have raised prices,” he said.

“But here we are told there is stock, more fuel is being bought and supply is normal. Then where is the shortage?”

He said even if deliveries had fallen somewhat, the situation on the ground seemed out of proportion.

“If the government is supplying fuel properly, where is that fuel going?” he asked.

“Even if supplies are 10, 20 or 30 percent lower, it should not be this bad. Most pumps are saying they have no fuel. Where there is fuel, thousands of people are crowding in. There is clearly a major leak somewhere, and the government is hiding that from us.”

Social media has reflected the same mood.

Around 1pm, a user named Mohammed Joy wrote in the Facebook group “Traffic Alert”: “Stood in line for 14 hours to get 10 litres of fuel. From 9pm Thursday to 11am Friday. Trust Filling Station.”

Under the post, one user wrote: “The government is still silent. I haven’t heard them admit there is any problem.”

Another commenter wrote: “May Allah give endless suffering to those who are hoarding fuel and putting us through endless misery.”

The scene was similar elsewhere in the capital.

There was a long queue at Sonar Bangla pump opposite Talukdar pump at Asad Gate. Around 1pm, Iftekhar Mahbub, leaving after finally filling up, said he had waited nearly 10 hours for Tk 1,000 worth of fuel.

He said the pump had run out of octane during the night but continued selling petrol, which many people accepted instead.

Motorcyclists said that outside a handful of large pumps, many smaller stations in Dhaka had effectively stopped fuel sales altogether.

At Newaz Service Station opposite Dhaka College, the dispenser machines were shuttered and locked at noon, with only LPG service still open.

The same picture was seen at Pother Bondhu Filling Station at Nilkhet, where the pump entrance had been roped off and the dispensers shut.

At QG Spondon Filling Station at Nilkhet, however, petrol and diesel were still being sold, with long lines of motorcycles as well as diesel-powered trucks and pickups.

At the InterContinental junction in Paribagh, both pumps were operating, but the rush for fuel was so intense that traffic was close to grinding to a halt.

At the government-run Meghna pump there, the queue wound like a snake past Hatirpool market. At the adjacent Purbachal pump, a fuel tanker arrived suddenly at midday, prompting people to break line and surge forward, blocking the road.

Abbas Uddin, a trader from Karwan Bazar, said he had been waiting in the Meghna queue since 5am before switching to the new line that formed at Purbachal.

“I got fuel much faster there,” he said. “Otherwise it would have taken me several more hours.”

Govt Says Stocks Are In Place

Even as motorists voiced anger over the visible supply crunch, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Aninda Islam Amit said on Friday that Bangladesh now held the highest stock of refined fuel in its history.

Speaking during a visit to Eastern Refinery Limited, the country’s only state-run refining facility, in Chattogram’s Patenga, he said the government had already secured supplies to meet demand in April and May and was now working to prepare for June.

“I can say with full responsibility and with pride that something that has never happened in Bangladesh’s history has happened now — we currently have the highest stock of refined fuel in the country’s history,” he said.

He added that Bangladesh also held jet fuel reserves equivalent to six weeks of demand.

“Our fuel demand for April and May has already been secured and is in a confirmed supply line,” he said.

“Taking that into account, I can say the Bangladesh government has the full capacity to meet demand in April and May. Now that we have been able to ensure that, we are working mainly to meet the needs of June.”

Even so, the state minister did not clearly explain why motorists in Dhaka were continuing to face long queues and repeated pump closures despite the government’s claim that stocks were sufficient.