Fuel: Over 1km queue in Dhaka, people wait even at closed filling stations

Long queues were seen today, Monday, at various filling stations in the capital to buy fuel. Some filling stations have stopped selling fuel.

Even at stations where fuel sales remain closed, drivers of motorcycles, private cars and other vehicles are standing in long lines in the hope of buying diesel, petrol and octane.

Drivers say they have no condition to drive to another filling station. Some have completely run out of fuel, while others have very little left. So they have no option but to wait where they are standing in line. Leaving the pump would mean pushing the vehicle.

Meanwhile, at the pumps where fuel sales are continuing, queues of motorcycles and various vehicles stretching from one to one and a half kilometres have been seen. Some drivers said they had been standing in line for more than one and a half to two hours.

This correspondent visited nine filling stations in Mirpur, Kalyanpur, Mohammadpur, Bijoy Sarani and Kalshi areas on Monday morning and found that three filling stations stopped selling fuel. One was selling only diesel and another only octane. The remaining four were selling both octane and diesel.

Around 9:00am, a line of private cars and other vehicles was seen starting from in front of the Institute of Bank Management, about 300 metres before the Sam Associates Limited pump in Mirpur-2.

A little further ahead, there was a line of motorcycles. On reaching the pump, it was seen that sales had been stopped. A security guard was telling everyone that the pump had run out of fuel and sales would remain closed until a fuel tanker arrived from the depot.

Inside the filling station, cashier Arafat Swapnil said they had received four and a half thousand litres of octane in a tanker around 4:00pm on Sunday. It was sold out by 10:30pm. Since then the pump has remained closed.

He said a tanker had gone to the Narayanganj depot to bring fuel but it was uncertain when it would return. Sales would resume once the tanker arrives with fuel.

Motorcycle driver Selim Mia had been waiting since 7:30am in front of the pump for fuel. He works in ride sharing through an app.

Selim Mia told Prothom Alo, “I’ve been standing for an hour and a half. They are not selling fuel. I have no way to go to another pump. I would have to push the bike, and while fasting it’s not possible to push the bike.”

Later, at the Khaleque Service Station in Kalyanpur, the fuel sales section was found closed. Only CNG gas was being sold there. Around 9:30am, both the cash counter and the manager’s office of the fuel section were closed.

At the Comfort Filling and CNG Refuelling Station, directly opposite the Khaleque filling station, only CNG gas was also being sold. A stand with the words “No Fuel” was placed at the entrance.

Around 9:45am, diesel and octane were being sold at Talukder Filling Station in Asadgate. Before entering the pump, a line of private cars was seen from the main bridge over the lake beside Zia Udyan. The distance from the pump to that point is about 1.25 kilometres.

Around 10:00am, driver Mohsin Hossain said he had joined the line just before 9:00am. By 9:55am his car was three vehicles away from the pump.

Mohsin Hossain told Prothom Alo that this was the first time he was buying fuel since the crisis began. He had tried to buy fuel yesterday but left after seeing the long line. Yesterday, he said, the queue of private cars had reached Manipuripara.

Cashier Mohammad Azam at the pump said around 10:00am that two tankers carrying 27,000 litres of octane had arrived last night. Of this, 20,000 litres had already been sold and around 7,000 litres remained. If it runs out before another tanker returns from the depot, they will also have to stop sales.

Around 10:15am, one of two filling stations near Shewrapara, Messrs Sabur Filling Station, was found closed. At the AS Filling Station only diesel was being sold. A security guard standing by the road was informing drivers that petrol and octane were unavailable and only diesel was being sold.

The longest queue was seen at Trust Filling Station near Bijoy Sarani. Around 10:45am, a line of private cars more than one and a half kilometres long was seen waiting for fuel. The queue extended beyond Jahangir Gate up to Universal Medical in Mohakhali. The line of motorcycles reached the main gate of the Prime Minister’s Office.

Around 11:30am, another long line of vehicles was seen at Sumatra Filling Station in the Kalshi area. There the queue of private cars extended from the filling station up to the ECB Chattar area.