Kolkata LPG shortage leaves auto drivers stranded queues stretch for days
Telegraph | 28 March 2026
Two nights, one day. This is not the duration of a holiday at an exotic locale, but the time some auto drivers spent waiting outside the City Centre petrol pump for LPG this week.
Till last week, the LPG shortage induced by the Iran war was affecting households, with cylinders difficult to book. While that has eased somewhat, the crisis has now hit the transport sector. The biggest consumers of this fuel — auto drivers — are spending sleepless nights in queues, waiting for gas.
In Salt Lake, the City Centre petrol pump is the only one supplying LPG. A little further off are petrol pumps near the Bengal Chemical stoppage, Maniktala and Rajarhat. Drivers from New Town have the same options. But such is the scarcity that the City Centre pump alone is drawing autos from as far as Garia.
Mahadeb Naskar spent two nights in his auto parked outside City Centre before he finally got gas on Tuesday morning. “We got an unoon (clay oven) and cooked for ourselves,” said the driver on the Chinar Park–Biswa Bangla Gate route. His phone battery died on the first night, and he had no way of informing his family of his whereabouts.
Drivers said this queue, at its longest, stretched from the petrol pump to Ramakrishna Island, then to Kalyan Island, City Centre Island and up to Sonnet Hotel. “This pump was dry for three days, but when we heard they might get a gas tanker soon, we landed up and waited. If we went home, we would lose our spot in the queue,” said Shibey Mondal, who was first in line on Tuesday, having waited since Sunday evening. Many drivers did the same, with some bringing along pillows. At the Bengal Chemical petrol pump, drivers saw one man wrap his auto in a mosquito net and doze off inside.
When the City Centre pump was dry on Sunday night, Sanjib Mondal went to the Bengal Chemical one at 4am. “I was still number 81 in the queue,” he says. “I lit up a mosquito coil and snuggled up in the rear seat of my auto. The pump opened in the morning, and I got gas at 11am. But I missed the rush hour of passengers in the morning. On other days, I do 12 to 14 trips from Karunamoyee to Beleghata, but today I’ll barely manage five,” Sanjib said on Monday.
Out of the 120 autos at his stand, only about 50 have been coming for duty daily, as the rest are queuing up at petrol pumps. “The CNG autos aren’t hit as badly as there are only four or five of them in our stand, along with three electric ones. While those mechanisms seem tempting, we can’t afford to switch our systems at a time when we’re struggling to earn our daily bread,” said Sanjib.
When Sanatan Bairagi finally got gas after hours of waiting at two pumps on Friday, he did not take his auto out till Monday. “Weekends have less crowd, so I thought it wasn’t worth wasting fuel on half-empty rides,” he said. Even on Monday, only about 35 out of 70 autos had turned up at their stand at Karunamoyee.
Another problem is rationing. The government has ordered petrol pumps to fill only half tank — about 10 litres — per auto. “Half tank will last just a day, meaning we’ll have to queue up like this daily! When will we drop passengers then?” wondered Swapan Bagcha, who plies on the Kestopur–Biswa Bangla Gate route.
Hiked fares
In the past month, the price of LPG has risen by about Rs 13 a litre, touching Rs 70.68 this past week and squeezing drivers from both ends. “Many of us drive hired autos and have to pay the owner a fixed daily amount. If we spend the whole day at the pump and don’t earn a penny, what will we pay him and what will we take home?” asked Ratan Gharami of the Karunamoyee–Ultadanga route.
From Monday, routes such as Karunamoyee–Beleghata and Karunamoyee–Phoolbagan hiked fares by Rs 2. Karunamoyee–Ultadanga has gone up from Rs 20 to Rs 25. On this last route, Krishno Mondal said some passengers chose to take buses after hearing the revised fares. “Some passengers understand our predicament as they have read about it in the papers and seen the queues at pumps. But some are heartless. They feel the pinch when buying domestic LPG but don’t care about us and refuse to pay,” said Rony Das, waiting at the City Centre pump.
With most autos stuck in queues, passengers are also facing longer waits. At the Baishakhi stand on Tuesday morning, Anirudha Das said he had to wait half an hour for a ride to Sector V. “And the fare has gone up from ₹25 to ₹27,” he said, finally squeezing into an auto.
At 9am, there was a queue of around 17 people, and an auto was showing up every five to 10 minutes.
Ruby Samanta said the wait had become so long on some days that she was ditching the auto queue and taking a rickshaw instead at times. “But that takes too long,” she grumbled. “I empathise with the drivers, but our salaries are not increasing along with fares. It doesn’t help that our office is not allowing work from home either.”
Others wondered whether fares would roll back once gas prices normalise. “Rs 2 or 5 may not seem like much, but it adds up. I take three autos and a rickshaw to reach my Sector V office, just as many on the way back, so it comes to quite a bit,” said Manisha Sharma, waiting at the Baisakhi stand for a ride.
Brawls break out
The City Centre petrol pump has been receiving endless phone calls, with people constantly checking if gas has arrived.
Such is the rush that the pump has had to call in the police when fresh stock arrived. “Tempers run high as some of these drivers have waited for more than 24 hours, so fights are breaking out, especially when we start giving fuel and when stock exhausts,” said Dibyendu Halder, on behalf of the pump. “When drivers get wind that gas is about to run out, some try to cut the line, claiming they are regular customers. It’s true others have come from far away, but they too have been waiting for hours.”
After remaining dry for three days, this pump received LPG from Indian Oil on Monday night — but only half its ordered quantity. “We usually order six tonnes and it lasts three days, but given the situation, half of that quantity is getting exhausted in hours. Moreover, the government order allows us to supply only 10l per auto,” said Halder. He blamed much of the rush on drivers who had so far bought LPG in black. “Since that isn’t available now, the drivers are coming to pumps. We estimate the ratio of legal to illegal users to be 1:4, and that is the surge we were not prepared for.”