Amidst rationing system to overcome the present crisis of petrol across Tripura, the majority of fuel outlets across Agartala remain dry and city dwellers continue suffering from a severe crisis of petrol and diesel.

Long queues of motor bike riders and light vehicles have been continuing for daylong in front of all fuel outlets across Agartala. On Saturday afternoon and on Sunday morning motorbike riders along with their vehicles standing for hours in front of all fuel outlets, but only a few of them managed to continue the supply.

However, sources in Food and Civil Supply department of state government said to curb the acute crisis situation, the department has imposed rationing system in all fuel outlets across Tripura after supply of essential commodities, food grains, and transport fuel have been disrupted as the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) engineers and workers are repairing the damage to the railway track in Assam’s Lumding-Badarpur Hill Section, where a loaded goods train wagon derailed on November 3rd last.  

Director of Food and Civil Supplies department, Sumit Lodh said that keeping in view of the railway track repairing in Lumding-Badarpur section, the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) continues its supply through National Highway to maintain the supply. He said that the supply of petrol and diesel are almost normal, but the department has to wait for a few more days for normal supply and hoped that within the next four days, the goods train services will resume again.

The Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs department through a order on Saturday said that ‘in view of the supply constraint petrol in the state following disruption of goods train service in Lumding-Badarpur section of NFR coupled with poor condition of the NH-8, it has been decided to impose restriction on sale of petrol by the fuel outlets.”

As per the rationing order, two wheelers will be allowed to purchase petrol of Rs. 200 per day, Rs. 400 for three wheelers and Rs. 1000 for four wheelers.

On Sunday Food and Civil Supplies Minister Sushanta Chowdhury visited many fuel outlets across Agartala and issued strict warning against black marketing.

Chowdhury met the owners and managers of fuel pumps and urged them to maintain government imposed regulations, which will ease the situation.

Later, speaking with media persons, Chowdhury said that the workforce of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) are working like war footing manner to restore the damaged track in Lumding-Badarpur section at the earliest.

He said that the railway track will be ready by November 13 next and they are hoping the good trains and oil tankers will again start running through Lumding-Badarpur section on November 14 next.

“In order to avoid any crisis or hoarding of fuel products up to November 13, the government has imposed the rationing system and officials of the department are also continuous monitoring the situation,” said Chwodhury and hoped that soon railway wagon with petrol and other fuel products will reach Dharmanagar depot.

An official of the NFR said that after partial repair of the damaged railway track, train services resumed in Lumding-Badarpur Hill Section under Southern Assam’s Dima Hasao district on November 3 but fully loaded and normal train services could not be resumed.

The NFR expect that the ongoing repair work would be completed by mid-next week and then normal train services would be started.

Notably, all the Express, passenger, local and goods trains connecting Manipur, Southern Assam, Tripura and Mizoram pass through the single track of the Lumding-Badarpur Hill section under the mountainous Dima Hasao district.

A wagon of the Silchar-bound goods train carrying food grains from Northern India derailed inside a tunnel near Mupa in the Lumding-Badarpur Hill Section of Southern Assam’s Dima Hasao district on October 31. More than a dozen trains were cancelled on the Lumding-Badarpur Hill Section between October 31 and November 2 while some others were either partially cancelled or rescheduled during this period.

Earlier, the normal train services were affected on October 17 and 18, when six coaches, an engine and the power car of Mumbai-bound Agartala-Lokmanya Tilak Terminus Express derailed on the same Lumding-Badarpur Hill section.

In view of the disruption of train services, the supply of essential commodities, food grains, diesel and petrol remains badly affected in Tripura.