Chandigarh: Punjab is cash-strapped and is confronting a scenario similar to 2005, when several legislature vehicles had gone dry after petrol pumps declined to give them the fuel over non-installment of bills.

More than 2,700 petrol pumps in the state have debilitated to quit supplying fuel to government vehicles if their duty of Rs 4 crore are not cleared soon.

The official vehicles of the state, which is confronting an extreme money related emergency, have for as far back as six months been running on petrol obtained from private petrol pumps and the Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation (CITCO).

The measure the administration owes CITCO, which works the Sector 9 petrol pump in Capital Chandigarh, has ruptured the Rs 1 crore check, owing to which, even CITCO has begun maxim no to some divisions.

Pradeep Kumar Sharma, responsible for the CITCO petrol pump, said, “We have declined to give petrol using a loan to a few authorities as their duty are robust. The individuals who owed a minor entirety have been cautioned to accompany the cash next time.”

While the organization division needs to pay a bill of Rs 11.83 lakh, the income section owes Rs 4.46 lakh and the Director General of Police needs to clear a bill of Rs 35.63 lakh.