What began as rumours of fuel shortage soon turned into a day of confusion and frantic searches for petrol filling stations across parts of Chittoor, Annamayya, and Sri Sathya Sai districts on Sunday.
By mid-morning, several petrol bunks along the Bengaluru highway stretch between Puthalapattu and Nangili had stopped refuelling vehicles, citing a delay in the arrival of fresh stock. This situation led to anxiety among motorists. At the same time, hundreds of people rushed to the petrol pumps on motorcycles in a bid to fill their tanks to the brim.