Expecting End To Petrol, Diesel Shortage By Tomorrow: Govt

Srinagar, Feb 25: The administration expects an end to fuel and LPG shortage in Kashmir Valley by Tuesday evening, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir Baseer Khan said.

“We are expecting an end to the shortage of petrol, diesel, and LPG by tomorrow evening,” Divisional Commissioner Kashmir Baseer Ahmad Khan told GNS.

Director Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA), said that 170 petrol, diesel and LPG tankers have crossed Panthal on Srinagar-Jammu highway and among these 55 are about to reach Valley.

Yesterday, the government said that petroleum and other products in the Valley “is critically low”.

The availability of petrol in the Kashmir Valley is adequate to meet the needs for just one day and that of diesel for four days. There is no stock of LPG in the Kashmir Valley,” State Administrative Council (SAC) head by governor Satya Pal Malik was informed, according to an official spokesman.

“This is a result of the earlier blockage of the Highway for seven days and the ongoing blockage for the past four days, leading to disruption of supplies from Jammu to Srinagar. The government is taking measures to enhance the supplies to the Kashmir region,” the official spokesman has said. “However, as a precautionary measure, the Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir has rationed petrol and diesel supply, so as to conserve whatever is available for emergency purposes. Steps are being taken to increase the availability of stocks in the Kashmir Valley. People of the state should not read anything more into this but see it only as an administrative measure in a shortage situation,” the spokesman had said.

On the medicine front also, the instructions to hospitals to increase the availability of medicines is also to be seen in the context of a shortage of supplies as a result of the prolonged disruption in transport.” (GNS)