AGARTALA, October 9 (TIWN): The acute fuel crisis in state is gradually coming down. A total of 85 loaded oil tankers in which 50 diesel, 25 petrol and 10 of kerosene have already reached the state here today, said Director of Food & Civil Supplies Soumitra Banerjee.

While speaking to TIWN, Director of Food & Civil Supplies Soumitra Banerjee, today, said that more four petrol tankers will arrive in the city today. Apart from that more 42 loaded oil tankers in which 25  diesel, 16 petrol and 1 of kerosene are on its way from Assam to Tripura. “We expect that the situation would be normalized by today," the Director added.

At present petrol is available in six petrol pumps of the city namely Bordwali petrol pump, TRTC petrol pump, Radhanagar petrol pump, Banamalipur petrol pump, Nabarun petrol pump and Khayarpur petrol pump, the Director mentioned.

A total of 65 petrol pumps exists in Tripura in which 61 are functional and the remaining four are non functional. Out of the 61 functional petrol pumps only 39 petrol pumps are having petrol and diesel, he further said. According to the Director, the state requires a total of one lakh liter petrol per day and the city requires a total of 25,000 liters of petrol per day.

However, after the availability of petrol in the petrol pumps hundreds of vehicles were seen in queue in front of petrol pump for refilling their vehicle tanks. Reacting on the issue one of petrol pump owner of the city have said it was only a temporary problem caused by blockade of National Highway (NH) 44 in Meghalaya and also for the recent landside in Meghalaya and said that the situation is going to be normalized by today.

It may be mentioned here that the fuel that comes to the state from Assam has been disrupted due to the continuous blockade of National Highway (NH) 44 in Meghalaya till last September 28.And the same has hit the stock of petroleum products of the state and by that time demand of petrol and diesel went up drastically among the Durga puja revelers. The NH 44 serves as the lifeline for Tripura, Mizoram, southern Assam (known as Barak Valley) and western Manipur.