Fuel prices skyrocket in Chennai, petrol thieves have a field day

With fuel prices going north, Chennai has started seeing a rise in fuel theft cases, especially in apartment complexes. Petrol was being sold at ₹100.75 and diesel at 93.91 on Tuesday morning.

With fuel prices skyrocketing, residents of Chennai are now witnessing a worrying trend of fuel theft as miscreants siphoning off petrol from the parked vehicles, Tamil language newspaper Dina Thanthi reported on Tuesday. Petrol price has touched ₹100.75 and diesel was selling for ₹93.91 on Tuesday morning. Fuel prices were not revised on Tuesday, though petrol gained ₹35 paise on Monday while diesel price remained intact.

Fuel prices were not revised on Tuesday, though petrol gained ₹35 paise on Monday while diesel price remained intact. (PTI Photo)

With a hike almost every day to the already soaring fuel prices, petrol thieves are having a field day mainly targeting apartment buildings where many two-wheelers are parked at the same spot.

Recently, residents of an apartment complex at Ambattur found that the fuel tanks of two-wheelers were empty all of a sudden. The residents association scanned CCTV footage and found a youngster stealing petrol from all the two-wheelers at the parking lot around 3am. However, the association has not filed any police complaint as yet.

In most of these fuel theft cases, people avoid registering police complaints at nearby stations considering the lengthy legal procedures involved, the newspaper noted. With fuel thefts on the rise, people have urged the police to tighten their vigil and increase night patrol.

Dinamalar reported that DMDK treasurer Premalatha Vijayakanth rode a bicycle in front of the Chennai collector's office in protest as the party organised demonstrations across the state on Sunday. Addressing the protest, Premalatha Vijayakanth said that the livelihood of people was at stake due to the phenomenal hike in petrol and diesel prices.