Now, oil firms take a hit in Valley unrest
Jammu   05-Aug-2010

After the railways, ongoing violence in Kashmir appears to have hit the oil companies. In view of the disturbance in the Valley, there has been no offloading of tankers at the depots of IndianOil, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation since the last four days with 300 tankers waiting at the depots, official sources said.

The Tanker Operators Association has, therefore, stopped lifting supplies meant for the Valley from the depots at Jammu. "There is no point in sending more tankers to the Valley where their vehicles are already waiting for off-loading for many days," said Association president Anand Sharma.

IOC Divisional Manager S K Behal said that the tankers dispatched from Jammu are stranded at oil depots in the Valley as workers are not available in view of the conditions there. Pointing out that the tanker operators were also concerned about the security of their vehicles and the drivers, he said that the matter has been taken up with the administration and is likely to be resolved soon.

"However, there are sufficient stocks in the Valley to last a fortnight even if there are no fresh supplies in the next few days," Behal said, adding that supplies to Ladakh, apart from the Army and other security forces was going on as usual.