Mizoram currently facing acute shortage of petrol and diesel

A dispute over transportation fees between an oil business and a Mizoram-based oil transporters forum has resulted in a severe shortage of petrol and fuel in Mizoram.

On Thursday,  a minister stated that oil delivery will resume and that things will return to normal soon.

Mizoram imports majority of its petrol and fuel from Assam.

Since the Mizoram IOCL Transporters Forum (MITF) initiated an agitation in April, refusing to transport oil at the tariff set by Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) and demanding an increase, supply has been hampered.

Other private transporters were also barred from transporting petrol and diesel to the state by the forum.

K Lalnghakliana, the forum's chairman, stated that the IOCL just set transportation costs at a lower rate than in 2016.

He said that the new rate was not acceptable for the local transporters as they have been incurring significant losses with the existing rate since 2016.

He said that the forum held discussions with the oil company on several occasions to settle the dispute but to no avail.

Although the oil company has signed agreements with a few outsiders at the new rate, Lalnghakliana said they want local transporters to transport oil in order to prevent possible temperament with petrol and diesel.

There were instances of LPG being tampered with by outsiders in the past and the same incident could happen with oil if only transporters from outside the state are allowed to transport it, he said.

The leader also urged the state government to set up oil depots to prevent future crises.

Almost all filling stations in the state capital Aizawl have been closed since Wednesday due to being out of stock despite oil rationing by the government. The shortage has hit hard commuters, including parents, who were greatly inconvenienced to drop and pick up their children from school.

On Thursday, when this reporter visited some places in Aizawl where petrol and diesel were clandestinely sold, not a single litre of oil was available for purchase.

Meanwhile, state supply minister K. Lalrinliana said that the government was taking steps to resume oil supply.

He said that they have decided to send oil tankers from the state police and a public undertaking unit to transport petrol and diesel from Assam.

The minister said that the government has been making efforts to settle the dispute between the IOCL and MITF since February to ensure that supply is not disrupted.

The MITF in a statement in the late evening on Thursday said that it will temporarily call off its agitation in order to ease the public.

The move was taken on compassionate and voluntary grounds and it did not indicate that the forum has succumbed to the IOCL’s new rate, the statement said.

K Lalnghakliana said that some of its members were expected to begin transporting oil from Friday.