Convenor of Hill Area SK Oil Dealers Association, Manipur, G Gaingam has urged the state government to increase the subsidized kerosene (SK) oil allocation for public instead of increasing it in the government pool in order to meet the public needs, especially in the hill districts.
He was speaking to the media during a press conference held at Sangakpham, Imphal East Sunday.
Gaingam said as per government order issued on April 6 by Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution department, 1,056 kilo litres of SK oil are allocated for 16 districts for the first quarter (April to June). Whereas 1,440 kilo litres of SK oil are kept reserved in the government pool, he added.
The SK oil dealers of both hills and valleys have been distributing kerosene oils. However, due to the less allocation to the public, people of both valley and especially hill areas are suffering from lack of kerosene oil for the last five-six years, he added.
He further said there are adequate numbers of SK oil dealers both in Valley and Hills districts. If lifting and issuing of utilization certificates are authorised to the DCs and SDOs concerned instead of giving the authority to the supply department, then there will be no lack of SK oils in the state, he added.
The association demanded issuance of 60 per cent PDS SK Oil for public distribution to SK oil dealers from April, May and June, 2021 onwards.
The demand addressed to CAF and PD minister mentioned that a total of 2,720 kilo litres of SK oil are issued by the Ministry for every quarter in Manipur.
It stated that for October-December, 2020, 1,344 kilo litres of SK oil have been kept reserved in the government pool. Of the total, 450 kilo litres are kept reserved for 60 assembly constituencies for each quarter and remaining 894 kilo litres of SK oil are reserved for directorate pool for meeting the requirement of Imphal Municipal Council, NCC unit, pressmen (Electronic and print), SSB personnel, Public and administrative exigencies and others, it added.
In the 4th quarter of 2020-21 (January- March) the mode of allocation was changed, it mentioned. Of the above state quota of 2,720 kilo litres, CAF and PD allocated only 1,184 kilo litres for the 16 districts and the remaining huge quantity of 1,536 kilo litres were kept on government pool which seems contradictory to the present citizen centric policy of the government, it stated.
On March 25, the ministry of petroleum and natural gas allocated 2,496 kilo litres only for the month of April-June, reducing 224 KL from the previous allocation per quarter, it added.
Gaingam appealed to the government to earmark 60 per cent i.e. 1,498 KL out of the total allocated quantity i.e. 2,496 KL for public to be distributed through the respective SK Oil dealers. He further appealed to the 450 KL of SK Oil to keep them reserved to the respective district SK Oil dealers in public interest.
