AGARTALA, August 13 (TIWN): Gas crisis has worsened across the state, forcing the domestic users to hit the streets protesting against the acute shortage of LPG cooking gas cylinders at Banamalipur capital gas agency on Thursday. Consumers in Agartala are severely hit by the shortage of Liquid Petroleum gas (LPG) cooking gas cylinders over past many days. As a result, black marketing is on the rise, with consumers forced to buy cylinders at prices ranging between Rs 1,500 and Rs 2,000 a piece. Long queues of people are seen outside Capital gas agency at Banamalipur from Thursday morning disturbing the swift movement of the traffic in the road. Common men are paying almost more than double to buy a gas cylinder. People have been left with no option but to buy the LPG cylinder from the open market by shelling out more money.These days hundreds of people are seen standing outside the gas agencies to seek a refill and to get their cylinder. Shortage of LPG has triggered spontaneous protests in many areas across the state.Taking full advantage of the current situation, black-marketers are making money by selling a gas cylinder almost double its price in the market.

However, the consumers of Capital gas agency alleged that a bulk of 300 cylinders has reached to the agency but the owner of the agency is playing dirty politics by not providing the cooking gas cylinders to the consumers and forcing them to buy cylinders with higher prices.

It is also alleged that the present owner of the agency was also arrested for his alleged involvement in the clutch of black marketing.

Consumers complained that gas dealers were refusing to supply subsidized gas cylinders on the existing booklet for domestic use.

The consumers who had gathered to collect refill cylinders at the Capital Gas agency were told that there was no LPG cylinder in the store. Upon this the consumers who were waiting since morning in long queues started to protest and blocked the streets.

It is to be mentioned here that the LPG crisis is an outcome of the dirty politics at framed by the labourers at the Bisalgarh bottling plant backed by CITU.

Acute crisis of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinder is still continuing in Tripura, triggering huge backlog.

The total number gas agencies are being increased to 46 while the main gas bottling plant in Bishalghar is unable to cope with the ongoing cylinder demands.

Allegedly, scarcity of LPG cylinders continues to haunt consumers, particularly in central locations of the city, and there is no confirmed time when the problem of acute scarcity of water will come to an end.