Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, December 22 2010:
The question hour in the first day of the two-day session of the state Assembly was rocked when the opposition charged the government of creating an artificial fuel scarcity in the state.
MLA, Ng Bijoy of MPP raised the issue of the prolonged scarcity of fuel faced by the people of the state.
He queried if the government had any short or long term plans to solve the fuel scarcity problem.
In reply to the question, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution minister, Y Erabot said that the government is planning to construct an oil depot of a storage capacity of 90-days consumption.
A proposal has been submitted to the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and the same will be a rail-fed one and will be located at Malom.
Unsatisfied with the reply, Bijoy pointed out that it was a long term policy and he wanted to know the immediate steps to be taken up to end the present fuel scarcity and insisted that the CAF& PD minister present a short term policy to relieve the prevailing fuel shortage.
He said that economic blockades have ended and there has been no disturbances like landslides on the National Highways but the state still faces scarcity of petrol, diesel, kerosene, LPG, etc.
This clearly shows that the scarcity is artificial.
Bijoy Koijam of the ruling Congress supported the observation made by the opposition member and insisted the minister to give a clear cut reason behind the prolonged fuel scarcity.
Interestingly, ruling MLA Bijoy Koijam charged that despite the people's woes people in Wangkhei Kendra get easy access to buy rice and kerosene.
He questioned how other MLAs cannot get their monthly quotas of PDS items when it is available normally in Wangkhei Kendra.
Intervening Bijoy Koijam's allegation an angry Erabot stood up and urged Bijoy Koijam not to use unparliamentarily words in the House.
He also demanded documents and witnesses to support the allegations against him.
Erabot parried that the state faces a severe fuel crisis due to the recent prolonged imposition of an economic blockade and that kerosene could not be distributed to the general public as the IOC has not been able to supply the required quantity of the state.