Guwahati/Shillong, Aug 20: Meghalaya is staring at a fuel crisis with supply of petrol, diesel and LPG from Assam completely halted for the second day on Friday following the indefinite blockade at Jorabat on the Guwahati-Shillong highway.
The blockade, enforced by a Guwahati-based transport body in protest against the attack on Assam vehicles during Wednesday’s KSU rally in Shillong, has stopped the movement of all commercial vehicles, including fuel tankers and LPG carriers, to Meghalaya.
Sources in the oil marketing companies said over 80 tankers bound for Shillong, Jowai, Nongstoin and Tura are stranded on the Assam side near Jorabat and Khanapara.
“No tanker has moved to Meghalaya since Wednesday evening. If the blockade continues for another 24 hours, most retail outlets in Shillong will go dry,” a senior official of an oil company told South Asia Views.
Long queues were already seen at several petrol pumps in Shillong and Ri-Bhoi on Friday evening, with dealers imposing rationing.
The Meghalaya Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department said it is monitoring the stock position and has taken up the matter with Assam authorities for safe passage of fuel convoys.
The transporters at Jorabat, however, are unrelenting. They said fuel supply will not be allowed until the Meghalaya government owns responsibility for the attack and announces compensation.
“We have nothing against the people of Meghalaya, but we cannot allow our vehicles to be attacked. No fuel, no goods will go until there is an assurance of safety,” a protester said.
Meghalaya depends entirely on Assam for fuel and essential commodities, with over 90 per cent of its supplies moving through the Jorabat corridor.
