Lorry owners staged a protest against the short supply of diesel in Kadiri town of Anantapur district on Monday. They were facing a shortage of diesel for the last few weeks due to short supply to the town. Earlier, nearly one lakh litres of diesel used to be supplied to the town everyday, but this has come down to 50,000 to 60,000 litres, with no supply for one or two days. This resulted in a high demand for diesel. Consumption of diesel has increased due to increase in the usage of tractors and JCBs following the Handri-Neeva canal and railway gauge conversion works. Lorry owners held talks with petrol bunk managements over the shortage in supply of diesel and requested them to ensure at least 1,000 litres of supply for lorries. They also dem-anded that bunk managements provide diesel to farmers only after verifying whether they had tractors or not. They withdrew their agitation after the bunk managements agreed to the proposal. Similarly, a large number of vehicles were lined up at petrol bunks in Rayachoti town of Kadapa district on Monday. The demand for diesel is increasing along with the increase in petro products due to inadequate supply. People in the town used to queue up for drinking water but these cans are now visible at petrol bunks. The most affected are farmers with kharif works in full swing. All farmers depend on tractors to plough their land. Bunk owners say that diesel supply is inadequate despite the hike in petro prices. It is learnt that black-marketing is also on the rise. The number of vehicles in the town is high, compared to other places in the region.