There is no scarcity of petrol, stock of 8-9 days still exists in Cachar: Guardian Minister

May 19: “People have resorted to panic buying. And the traders at many places are taking this opportunity to hike prices. Those who require 10 kg of a particular item are now found to purchase 20 kg of the same item. Sothe artificial shortage in the market is created by the consumers. This is not natural shortage of essential commodities. I would like to appeal to the people of Barak Valley not to go for panic buying. The Chief Minister is keeping a 24×7 watch on the situation. There is enough stock of essential commodities in Cachar. This was said by Guardian Minister Ashok Singhal during his visit of Silchar on Thursday afternoon while interacting with the media.

As regards the crisis of petrol in the pumps in Silchar, Guardian Minister Ashok Singhal said, “There is no scarcity of petrol in Cachar district. I had a talk with the district administration of Cachar on yesterday night and we have enough stock of petrol here for 8 to 9 days. Yes, I have heard that some petrol pumps in Silchar is dry. Again, this is the result of panic buying of petrol mostly yesterday by the people.”

“Those petrol pumps which are dry now means that fresh supply has not been brought from the depot. This has taken place because at many places in Cachar, the roads are under water. Moreover, many drivers who would drive the tankers are unable to do so as their houses are inundated due to floor or many others working in the depot are unable to work due to water logging in their houses. So this does not mean that there is scarcity of petrol. We do have enough stock of petrol in Cachar, but due to such difficulties, the petrol can’t be delivered at this moment to the pumps. But this is a very temporary phase. Very soon petrol will reach all those pumps which are dry now. So please don’t panic,” added the Guardian Minister.

During the day, the Guardian Minister Ashok Singhal accompanied by MP Dr Rajdeep Roy, MLA Dipayan Chakraborty, Mihir Kanti Shome, Kaushik Rai and others visited some of the relief camps and also inspected flood affected areas. Mr Singhal while coming to Silchar by an Air force helicopter brought along with him large quantity of relief materials.