Imphal, September 28: The Awangkhul and Haochong Range Development Committee, Tamenglong District has come down heavily on FCS Minister Ngamthang Haokip accusing him of practising very unethical allocation of kerosene.

SK Adipou,secretary of the committee said that the Minister has not given the permission to lift the lapsed quota of kerosene oil for the months of July and August this year for the hill districts but the same has been allowed for the valley districts.

When The Sangai Express contacted the FCS Minister, he however said that the unreleased kerosene quota for the months of August and September can be lifted from the IOC by all the dealers, inlcuding the hill dsitricts with immediate effect.

Haokip also urged all the dealers to lift their share soon.

The Minister explained that the arrangement was arrived at during a meeting between Chief Minister O Ibobi and Union Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar.

The committee said that there should not be any discrimination between the hill and valley dsitricts when it comes to distributing kerosene quota.

It said that the permission of allocation of kerosene oil comes from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas for the whole State "so giving permission to one section of the people while shunting out the other section is discriminatory." The committee further reminded that Ngamthang Haokip should not forget that he is from the hills and added "The Minister should not think that the hill people are fools".

The committee also charged that the Minister had done it so because he intends to sell off the lapsed quota through his DSO "by issuing permits for his own pocket".

The committee informed that the total quota allocation for the month of July this year for the whole State was 2132 KL but the Minister had alotted only 1516 KL and the remaining 616 KL has been kept under the FCS Directorate. Ngamthang Haokip however denied there is any increase in the allotment of kerosene quota for any of the districts in the State.

The comittee further stated that in the month of September the FCS Minister kept all the kerosene oil dealers of Imphal West and Imphal East under the FCS Directorate "to hide his under dealing". It further alleged that the quota of Imphal East was 204KL for August month but increased to 418KL for September month for the same distirct which is an incease of 214KL.For Imphal West, the quota for August month was 246KL but for Setember it was allotted 611KL,an increase of 365KL,alleged the committee.

It questioned the wisdom and the agenda behind the sudden increase in the quota of K oil in these two districts.

The committee reasoned that the increased 214KL for Imphal East and the increased 365KL for Imphal West were for the FCS Minister himself.

The Awangkhul and Haochong Range Committee demanded a CBI inquiry in the matter.The committee also demanded the resignation of the said Minister and demanded the permission to lift the lapsed quota of kerosene oil of July and August of 2005.It has set October-15 as the deadline to fulfill the demands or else a series of strong agitation against the Government would be launched.

Meanwhile, FCS Department has today issued an order stating that the Kerosene quota for the month of July and August which had been lapsed following the indefinite economic blockade of ANSAM would be distributed/allotted with effect from tomorrow till Septem ber 30.It has informed the the concerned dealers could lift their respective Kerosen quota from the IOC.

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