HYDERABAD — Following a strategic decision by state-run oil marketing companies to abruptly demand advance payments of Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore from local dealers, the Civil Supplies Department confirmed Tuesday that the resulting citywide shutdown of petrol pumps was simply a case of "sudden panic driven buying."

The transition away from credit-based supply, quietly implemented by HPCL and BPCL last week and IOCL shortly after, successfully protected the corporations' financial exposure by ensuring that local dealers could not afford to purchase inventory. Officials noted that the sudden appearance of "No Stock" boards at hundreds of stations over the weekend is what inexplicably caused the public to queue for kilometers during the morning rush hour.

"Our new payment system is working flawlessly to safeguard our margins," explained a spokesperson for the oil marketing companies, observing the paralyzed traffic from a comfortable distance. "We merely asked dealers, whose own margins haven't seen a single increase in eight years, to wire us Rs 1 crore in advance overnight if they wished to receive their daily stock. The fact that they couldn't, and subsequently shut down, is entirely unrelated to the current fuel scarcity. The true culprit is the public, who selfishly tried to buy petrol when they realized there wasn't any."

At press time, the Civil Supplies Department was urging motorists trapped in serpentine queues to stop spreading malicious rumors about structural supply disruptions, while oil executives congratulated themselves on a remarkably risk-free quarter.