Tripura minister blames Assam Govt., Centre for state's suffering

A joint press conference of Tripura's Food and Civil Supplies Minister Bhanulal Saha, PWD Minister Badal Choudhury and Transport Minister Manik Dey was held in the stat secretariat to explain the situation of the state due to the ongoing fuel crisis.

Speaking to ANI on the sidelines of the conference, Saha said the Assam Government and the Centre is mainly responsible for the present suffering of the people of the state.

Saha said that if the Centre wants, it can give the responsibility of repairing the damaged part of NH 8 in Assam, to the Tripura Government as it was already engaged in repairing an alternate road inside Assam.

According to him, at present the responsibility of the damaged part lies with the Assam Government but the agency engaged with the repairing is very callus in work and so, the problem is prevailing for so long.

The Tripura minister further said that at present the demand of petrol in the state is two lakh litres daily, while that of diesel stands to three lakh litres, but due to the poor road conditions the supply is only 35 to 40 percent of the demand which is creating crisis.

He informed that the state government had earlier suggested that essential items including fuels be transported to Tripura through Bangladesh, but that needs time for the process to be worked out with a foreign nation.

Thousands of oil tankers, carrying fuel and goods-laden trucks from Guwahati, are stuck in Assam's Karimganj, while the situation worsened as the train services between Tripura became irregular after the broad gauge conversion.

The supply of essentials and fuel has been hit badly in Tripura for the second consecutive month in spite of repeated requests made by the state government for Centre's intervention to restore its damaged lifeline - National Highway-8 - in Assam.

Meanwhile, opposition political parties and affected people are organising road blockade and are regularly staging protests to demand normal supply of fuel.