The Centre plans to send 100 trucks carrying petroleum products to the poll-bound Manipur’s capital town Imphal from Guwahati to bring back normalcy in the state. Two trucks of petroleum products on January 22 and four trucks on January 23 have already been sent to the state, which is affected by economic blockade imposed by the United Naga Council starting November 1 last year to protest against the move to create seven new districts in the state.
The blocking of National Highway-2 that connects Imphal to Dimapur and National Highway-37, connecting Imphal to Jiribam, has disturbed the normal life in the state as the prices of essential commodities such as food and fuel, among others, have increased manifold due to lack of supply.
The state will be polling on March 4 and March 8 to elect next Assembly representatives. In the last two days, the Indian Air Force airlifted 96,000 litres of diesel from Guwahati to Imphal using C-17 aircraft through three sorties and the government is closely monitoring the situation to ensure there are no problems with the fuel supply chain.
According to a source, the measures have been taken as several tankers are stranded at Jiribam and oil companies are fully prepared to restore normal supply to the north-eastern state.
