Srinagar: The government on Sunday said that petroleum and other products in the Kashmir 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. The government’s statement comes a day after government issued a statement that Divisional Commissioner Kashmir was informed by all deputy commissioners that there are enough stock of essentials including petrol and diesel by LPG.
The meeting was attended by Advisors, Vijay Kumar, K K Sharma and K Skandan, besides B V R Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary, Umang Narula, Principal Secretary to Governor, R.K. Goyal, Principal Secretary, Information Department, Shaleen Kabra, Principal Secretary, Home; and Rohit Kansal, Principal Secretary, Planning and Monitoring Department.
“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 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 said. “On the medicine front also, the instructions to hospitals to increase availability of medicines is also to be seen in the context of shortage of supplies as a result of the prolonged disruption in transport.”