A security guard tries to keep a crowd of customers with empty gas cylinders ‘in line’. Long queues in front of gas agencies such as these have become a regular sight in Nagaland. (Morung Photo)Dimapur : A basic necessity like cooking gas was never expected to come to this state of scarcity. Dimapur has been experiencing acute shortage of cooking gas in the recent past.
However, many domestic consumers pass it off simply as a shortage brought about by the truckers strike and the like. Interacting with the manager of a gas agency Zinyu Gas Agency, Bendang, one is brought into a different light. He explained that the crisis is undoubtedly caused by the growing number of consumers.
The situation would not have been so complicated if there was a differentiation of the stipulated gas quota maintained between domestic and commercial consumers. With the astounding number of hostels, restaurants and hotels mushrooming in Dimapur, things are just going from bad to worse.
If the consumers stipulated under ‘commercial quota’ do not shift from the present consumption of domestic gas there is going to be no stop to the ongoing hue and cry of the consumers standing in the queue for hours together in vain. In one such scene today, a middle-aged housewife Neibanuo claimed that she had been standing in the queue for the third day for not less than two to three hours on all the days. Interesting was another elderly woman who lamented that she was standing in the queue for a second consecutive day and refused to bring her cylinder along because it was highly unlikely that she was going to receive one!
When queried if there is any possibility to ridding this grim scene everyday, the manager said, “Things might change for the better if the local administration together with the Indian Oil check on this illegal consumption and implement some stringent rules, otherwise this sight is here to stay.”
A silver lining is on the recent rules from the Indian Oil Corporation to be implemented from January 2009 where domestic consumers have to bid goodbye to their multiple consumer refill cards. This will help in averting excess or illegal consumption.
All domestic consumers now need to produce two copies of passport-size photographs, residential proof certificates with house numbers, identity cards and last but not the least, birth certificates. But fret not, because there is a reason to smile with the possibility of LPG prices to slash sooner or later.
However, many domestic consumers pass it off simply as a shortage brought about by the truckers strike and the like. Interacting with the manager of a gas agency Zinyu Gas Agency, Bendang, one is brought into a different light. He explained that the crisis is undoubtedly caused by the growing number of consumers.
The situation would not have been so complicated if there was a differentiation of the stipulated gas quota maintained between domestic and commercial consumers. With the astounding number of hostels, restaurants and hotels mushrooming in Dimapur, things are just going from bad to worse.
If the consumers stipulated under ‘commercial quota’ do not shift from the present consumption of domestic gas there is going to be no stop to the ongoing hue and cry of the consumers standing in the queue for hours together in vain. In one such scene today, a middle-aged housewife Neibanuo claimed that she had been standing in the queue for the third day for not less than two to three hours on all the days. Interesting was another elderly woman who lamented that she was standing in the queue for a second consecutive day and refused to bring her cylinder along because it was highly unlikely that she was going to receive one!
When queried if there is any possibility to ridding this grim scene everyday, the manager said, “Things might change for the better if the local administration together with the Indian Oil check on this illegal consumption and implement some stringent rules, otherwise this sight is here to stay.”
A silver lining is on the recent rules from the Indian Oil Corporation to be implemented from January 2009 where domestic consumers have to bid goodbye to their multiple consumer refill cards. This will help in averting excess or illegal consumption.
All domestic consumers now need to produce two copies of passport-size photographs, residential proof certificates with house numbers, identity cards and last but not the least, birth certificates. But fret not, because there is a reason to smile with the possibility of LPG prices to slash sooner or later.
http://www.morungexpress.com/local/11536.html