Avinash Deshmukh, a farmer in Maharashtra’s Dharashiv district, is a worried man. With the sowing season nearing, he has not been able to procure enough diesel for his tractor yet. Like other farmers in the district, he has been lining up for fuel at a local petrol pump only to be turned back.

“I am planting sugarcane for which a tractor is required to prepare the land. I have been to a petrol pump, but it asked me to come later as diesel was not available,” he said.

Mr. Deshmukh is feeling the pinch of the West Asia war, finally. A day after the Centre hiked fuel prices for the fourth time to cut losses of its oil marketing companies (OMCs), petrol bunks in several parts of the country reported fuel shortage and supply disruption on Tuesday as people flocked to stock up despite efforts by the authorities to calm nerves and curb hoarding.

In Maharashtra, farmers in Dharashiv, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, and Jalna districts said they have not been able to buy diesel. In the talukas and smaller towns, there have been long lines outside filling stations and people have been parking tractors in a queue.

Punjab’s Petrol Pump Dealers Association said there were reports of short supply of petrol and diesel following which some retail outlets are running dry. Rajesh Kumar, secretary general of PPDA, told The Hindu that the association has written a letter to the State government last week, warning it about the unfolding “critical” situation.

“Many petrol pumps are running towards completely dry, leading to long queues. Punjab is currently in the peak agriculture season, when diesel demand is at its highest for essential farming operations. This shortage is directly threatening agricultural activities, farmer livelihoods, transportation and essential services,” the letter read.

Mr. Kumar said Deputy Commissioners have told petrol pumps to maintain a minimum stock of 1,000 litres of petrol and 2,000 litres of diesel at all times. “But the limited and irregular supply from the OMCs has made it virtually impossible to simultaneously meet the stock requirement and serve customers,” he said, adding, that “they are forced to either violate the mandatory minimum stock directive or face angry crowds and escalating customer unrest.”

In Bengaluru, fuel stations reported reduced supplies, with several operators saying they are receiving only one tanker a day instead of the usual two loads. Fuel pump owners said the reduced supply has increased pressure during peak hours, raising fears of temporary stockouts if the situation continued. Some pumps have faced short disruptions in regular petrol availability due to delayed tanker arrivals. A 24-hour fuel station in R.R. Nagar has stopped overnight operations to conserve stock. However, operators said there is currently no major shortage of petrol or diesel in the city.

Adhoc curbs

Petrol pump owners in Rajasthan have moved a public interest writ petition in the High Court over the alleged arbitrary restrictions imposed by OMCs on the sale of fuel. The petition said that IOC, BPCL and HPCL were bypassing formal regulatory frameworks to cut fuel supplies and issuing verbal instructions and WhatsApp messages directing dealers to sell fuel in limited quantities.

Rajasthan Petroleum Dealers’ Association general secretary Shashank Korani said deliveries to pumps have dropped by 30% to 35%. The association said that against the estimated normal consumption of 50 lakh litres of petrol and 1.30 crore litres of diesel per day in the State, outlets are getting 20 lakh to 25 lakh litres of petrol and 70 lakh to 80 lakh litres of diesel a day. About 1,500 of the 6,712 fuel outlets across the State are functioning with a very low stock.

Some outlets are running dry due to shortage in supply, exposing dealers to possible action by the authorities, as the petrol pumps are required to maintain a minimum stock under the Essential Commodities Act.

Curbs on fuel purchase were in place at certain pumps in Bihar, including in Patna and Gaya, due to limited fuel availability. Two-wheelers can fill petrol for ₹200, cars for ₹1,000 and heavy vehicles up to ₹2,500.

‘Panic buying’

Some have blamed panic buying for the scarcity. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said there has been a sudden spurt in petrol and diesel demand that has created “a shortage-like situation” in the State. He said the government is probing if fuel is being hoarded or illegally diverted for commercial use.

“In the case of petrol, demand is 23% higher than average consumption, while diesel demand has surged by 52%,” he said.

Mr. Fadnavis said in Akola district, consumption has jumped by 154%, while in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Beed districts, it has gone up by more than 70%.

In Kolkata, pump owners flagged hoarding of fuel amid rumours of a supply crunch. Some pumps have gone dry due to a sudden jump in sales, indicating that people are stocking up fuel. “There is no major supply issue reported till now. In some pockets some pumps have gone dry, but that is mostly due to hoarding,” John Mukherjee, president of Indian Oil Dealers Forum, West Bengal, said.

Kanchan Daw, a Bharat Petroleum pump owner in central Kolkata area, said there has been a lot of misinformation regarding fuel supply, leading to hoarding. “There is no supply deficit at the moment. But there has been a request from the Central government not let anyone hoard fuel due to panic, so we are trying to make people aware about that,” Mr. Daw told The Hindu.

No shortage, but self-regulation

While no supply shortage was noticed at fuel stations in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhopal, some have put limits and restrictions on large-scale commercial sales. Rajesh Kumar, a fuel pump owner, said diesel sale in large containers for commercial purposes has been halted in view of the current situation. “We have stopped giving diesel in drums, stopped sale to private companies like those in construction or manufacturing businesses,” Mr. Kumar said.

Though there has been no shortage in Andhra Pradesh, the State’s petroleum traders federation president Raavi Gopala Krishna said he has noticed “a nearly 10% to 15% drop in fuel consumption, particularly petrol, after the successive price hikes.”

In Tamil Nadu, V. C. Asokan, state-level co-ordinator for the oil industry, said a few days ago there was an increase in sale due to increased agricultural activities and a visible shift of institutional customers to retail outlets. However, dealers said fuel supplies were affected in a few retail outlets and bunks went dry pushing sales to nearby outlets.

In Telangana, OMCs said there has been a significant increase in demand for petroleum products in recent times due to intensified agricultural and harvesting activities with major grain procurement operations under way. In the first three weeks of May, diesel sales in Telangana rose 12.6% and that of petrol by 9%, compared to same period last year.

OMCs call for calm

Oil companies assured the public on Tuesday that there was no shortage of fuel and urged people to avoid “panic buying”.

“BPCL continues to maintain adequate fuel availability across its retail outlets with active replenishment and operational monitoring underway across the country,” the company said on social media.

HPCL conveyed a message of calm, saying, “Our retail outlets across the country continue normal operations with steady fuel availability... No uncertainty. No disruption.”

But that did little to calm the nerves as rumours of a shortage of fuel and LPG led panic buying in some areas of Uttar Pradesh leading to long queues at many petrol pumps. Videos of people waiting in long queues at fuel stations in Lakhimpur Kheri and Bahriach went viral.

Amid such reports of panic buying, the Gujarat government urged residents not to rush to fuel stations, assuring that there is no shortage of fuel. State government spokesperson and Cabinet Minister Jitu Vaghani said adequate stocks of petrol and diesel are available and that the administration is closely monitoring distribution in coordination with OMCs to ensure uninterrupted supply at retail outlets.

Speaking to reporters at the bi-weekly West Asia briefing on Monday, Sujata Sharma, Joint Secretary at the Union Petroleum Ministry, had said that instances of panic buying have been reported at pumps in certain districts of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.

“Among the primary reasons we have analysed is agricultural demand, shift of bulk consumers’ demand to retail, and consumers increasingly moving to public-sector from private sector,” she had said.

The Hindu late on Tuesday (May 26, 2026) evening reached out to the Petroleum Ministry for a comment on the latest findings from Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli, Jalgaon and Buldhana district. The story would be updated as and when it is received.

(With inputs from Bengaluru, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai and Patna)