Hueiyen News Service : There is no dispute when a distraught Okram Ibobi says that the rampant ubiquitous sale of petrol and diesel beside the asphalt and gravelled roads in the backdrop of the padlocked oil pumps in Manipur is not seen anywhere. What he had not said was that the government inaction in this regard is also unparalleled and it is a world class joke. Perhaps the authorities are not cracking the whip as this world record is coveted and the posterity will be proud of it.
The blackmarketeers and the roadside vendors continue to get patronage and carte blanche so much so that they are operating freely without caring two hoots. This incomprehensible government inaction is really puzzling and shameful. It is a bitter fact that notwithstanding the free sale of fuel in this illegal manner nobody has been pulled up and the blackmarketeers have become more brazen and haughty. Not surprisingly the opposition parties are not flaying the government for this signal failure to come to the rescue of the people who have to pay Rs 160 for a litre of highly adulterated petrol since kerosene had vanished from the market.
The blackmarketeers and speculators have many good reasons to be grateful to the organisors of the protracted blockade since they are earning net profit in five figures every day. The sleazy characters have got to the gravy train while the people, the opposition parties and all others remain as mute spectators. The way the government machinery remains paralysed despite the fact that the Chief Minister had publicly acknowledged the peculiar situation should have drawn the attention of the Union government. But then the people of Manipur are much below the rung than those of Bihar or UP. In any case the people of Manipur are not making a fuss. So why should the central leaders bray for them ?
Since the beginning of the Naga blockade against Manipur when one litre of petrol was sold under the nose of the authority at Rs 160 I have been buying it from a local woman. Now it has come down to Rs 70 a litre though it fluctuates depending on the landslips and other vagaries of the nature. I assure her that even if the petrol pumps are open I shall continue to buy from her at the exorbitant price. She is one of the vendors doing brisk business by the roadside. I had facetiously remarked that she would soon be buying a sleek car. She smirked and said that she was actually planning to buy one. In a philosophical soliloquy she adds that the local residents will say that she has bought it out of the profit she has earned.
A politician like Mamta Bannerjee would have launched an effective campaign against the open blackmarket had Manipur been West Bengal. We are very unfortunate to have been born in this neglected state. One Minister had taken the role of the opposition exposing the involvement some paramilitary personnel in the thriving fuel business. The Minister still continues to get brickbats for this public spirited expose.
In view of the numerous recurring blockades, general strikes and other forms of disruption of normal life some scheming persons had stocked petrol and diesel just at the outhouse for sale at exorbitant rates. There had been devastating fires claiming some lives. The mushrooming kiosks and roadside vendors have no safety precautions and it is a mystery that people are not roasted alive. Some fences have also business links with some government drivers who happen to be the perennial source of petrol. This explains why petrol pumps are open only during day time; they are also shut down on many flimsy pretexts, the most common being the recurring general strikes. Petrol pumps are open round the clock even in Nagaland where all shops and kiosks pull down shutters by evening.
The paralysis of the government in this regard could well be explained. It is also disappointing that there is no citizens' group or NGO to contain this burgeoning problem which result in fleecing the people. But then why look at the half empty glass and not the half full glass ? There is a positive side of the blockades and the local economists should highlight it. Several thousands of persons who have not been earning anything all these years had started earning four figure profit by selling petrol and diesel. The figure is still higher for those who deal in the cooking gas cylinders. A family with gas connection or a person with a sleek car or high speed two wheeler can easily afford to spend a little more. And all of them have been doing it anyway. But then some of the blackmarketeers have earned so much in the past few months that they may make their presence felt as "social workers" to contest elections in due course. This system of money circulation is something Russia could have learned from Manipur.
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