FILL ’ER UP: An oil tanker arrives to deliver supplies to a filling station on Wednesday. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

Over 24 hours have passed since the West Bengal Tankers’ Association (WBTA) called off its strike, but Calcutta’s fuel crisis is far from over.

Though tankers from Mourigram and Budge Budge started entering the city from late on Tuesday, some oil pumps remained dry till late into the evening.

“We are still waiting for the tankers,” said R. Verma, owner of Central Service Station, on Chittaranjan Avenue, that wore a deserted look, while some other pumps did brisk business after a five-day lull.

“We supplied 1,400 kilolitres yesterday, and today the backlog has been cleared… The crisis is over,” said an Indian Oil spokesperson, amid allegations of “favouritism” in replenishment of fuel.

According to some pump-owners and managers, the oil companies were favouring their pumps and tanker-owners catered to filling stations owned by people with political links.

“The supply was good today… But it will take two or three more days for the situation to return to normal,” said Tushar Kanti Sen, president of the West Bengal Petroleum Dealers’ Association, on Wednesday afternoon.

Now that the strike is over and the situation is limping back to normal, questions are being raised on transport minister Subhas Chakraborty’s role in handling the crisis.

The tug-of-war between the oil companies and tanker-owners was over the hiring rates. The tanker-owners wanted the rate raised from Rs 111.77 per kilolitre per km to Rs 130, while the oil companies offered to go up to Rs 122.67 per kilolitre per km.

“We have learnt that the rates are the highest in Calcutta… So, the reason behind the strike was not clear,” murmured a taxi driver.

The tanker-owners have their own logic: In Calcutta, they cannot reap the benefits of the high rates because of the lower capacity of the tankers, and the fewer trips made per tanker between oil depots and filling stations.

“No one is sympathetic to our situation…It is very difficult for us to operate like this,” said tankers’ association general secretary Ajit Das.

The row over rates is expected to be resolved over the next fortnight. But many believe that a proactive role from the state and the central governments could have minimised the misery. “It looked like everyone wanted the crisis to snowball and intervened only after that,” said a pump-owner.