Fuel woes likely to continue in Garo Hills
TURA: The Deputy Commissioner of West Garo Hills, Pravin Bakshi, on Wednesday informed that the government will release an ex-gratia of Rs.3 lakh to the family of Bittu Kumar Patel who was shot dead by unidentified assailants on Tuesday at Bokmagre Petrol Pump on the outskirts of Tura.
The people of Tura may have to wait a little while longer to get some respite with regard to their transportation woes in the wake of the indefinite fuel strike with concerned petrol pump owners and dealers preferring to boycott the meeting called by the Deputy Commissioner to discuss on the solutions to the issue.
While none of the concerned parties attended the meeting the resolution taken during its most recent meeting was sent in where it made a number of demands.
One of the demands of the pump owners included the deployment of armed police personnel as security in each and every petrol pump in Garo Hills for its smooth functioning and safety on a 24-hour basis. They demanded that the perpetrator responsible for the death of Bittu Patel be arrested within 72 hours as well as ex-gratia of Rs.10 lakh to be paid to the victim’s family.
It also demanded that all pending demands and issues raised by the petrol pump owners are expedited failing which all petrol pumps in Tura would remain closed indefinitely until its demands are met.
However, the pump owners assured that all the pumps would open on August 15 provided that armed security personnel are deployed.
While no concrete solution to the problems being faced by the people could be arrived at in the absence of the pump owners those present at the meeting were unanimously of the view that the ongoing strike should be called off keeping in view the interest of the general public.
The meeting condemned the cold blooded murder of Bittu Patel, while at the same time expressing serious concern on the indefinite strike by the petrol pump association.
The civil societies while appealing to the pump owners to call off their indefinite strike have also appealed to the citizens to wear black badges from August 18-20 as a mark of protest against the barbaric act as well as to show solidarity with the petrol pump owners of Garo Hills.