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| Border people protest as Samba fails to get k oil quota | | | Early Times Report
RAMGARH (SAMBA), July 30: As Samba continues to be treated 'step-motherly' by the district administration with locals not getting the supply of kerosene oil for the past few days, people of the border areas of Ramgarh and Nanga today held a demonstration and threatened to intensify their stir if the oil was not made available at depots in their respective areas at the earliest.
People in these far-flung areas of the district use kerosene oil stoves to cook food. They also use kerosene oil lamps to illuminate houses at night. Majority inhabitants of these areas are poor and do not have LPG connections. "Since we don't have LPG connections, we wholly and solely depend on kerosene oil to cook food. Imagine how will we cook food if the administration continues to stick to its decision of not availing the oil quota for Samba district?" the protesters asked.
They threatened to intensify their stir in case the administration 'does not soon re-start receiving the kerosene oil quota for Samba district'.
They said they urgently needed kerosene oil to illuminate their houses at night as electricity supply system had suffered damages due to the heavy rains at some places in the district.
They also raised slogans in support of their demand.
The alleged arbitrary decision of the administration against the supply of kerosene oil to Samba district had also triggered protests on July 27, with nearly 100 dealers holding a demonstration outside the office of the deputy commissioner.
Kerosene oil is supplied to the state by the union ministry of petroleum every month as per the requirement of J&K. The state's CAPD department supplies it to Bharat Petroleum, Indian Oil and Hindustan Petroleum which further supply it to their respective stockists in all the J&K districts as per their fixed quota, according to official sources.
"The stockists supply it to dealers who then sell it to consumers in their respective areas. There are 100 kerosene oil dealers in Samba district alone," sources informed.
Sources alleged that the Samba administration had arbitrarily decided a few days back to get the supply of kerosene oil stopped to the district on the plea that 'people here don't need it anymore as all of them are having LPG connections'.
Sources said this was for the first time in the history of the state that a decision had been taken to get the kerosene oil supply stopped to a particular district.
"The dealers have been earning their bread and butter from the sale of kerosene oil and do not have any other source of income. If their depots are closed, they will be virtually left to starve. Majority of them are running their depots from rented shops. When they don't receive and sell their monthly quota of kerosene oil, they won't be able to pay the monthly rents of their shops," sources said.
The district administration's decision has left the dealers jobless. "How will we be feeding our families now?" the dealers, who spoke to Early Times, asked.
They said the district administration's move had surprised them as all other districts of the state had been getting their quota of kerosene oil without any hue and cry. "In Jammu district alone, where almost every one has a LPG connection, over 7 lakh lts of kerosene oil was being supplied monthly," the dealers said.
"Jammu district has a vast urban area while Samba district mainly comprises of rural and border areas where many people still don't have LPG connections and necessarily need kerosene oil for cooking food," they said.
Despite repeated attempts, Samba DC could not be contacted for comments. |
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