John Wilbert & Savita Kumari
Port Blair, Jan 25: The Car Nicobar Islands witnessed shortage of fuel for nearly 15 days in the first weeks of January 2022, due to delay in arrival of Cargo Vessel. Now, even after the arrival of sufficient quantity of fuel at Car Nicobar, people are witnessing a huge rush at the lone petrol pump of Car Nicobar Island.
Villagers allege that the delay is mainly due to vending issues. According to details last Thursday around 150 barrels of petrol and 150 barrels of Diesel reached Car Nicobar Islands in MV Bay Islands cargo ship.
As soon as the news reached the public, large number of people started reaching the petrol pump to buy and stock sufficient quantity of fuel, fearing more shortage of fuel in the coming days.
Now the problem is that the lone petrol pump of Car Nicobar has very limited underground storage and the lone functioning vending machine is also several decades old. This is why the petrol pump staffs are unable to cater to the large number of vehicles reaching the pump since Friday, which resulted in a chaotic situation.
When contacted Mr. Mohammed Amin Moosa, General Manager of Ellon Hinengo Limited told Andaman Sheekha Daily that another reason for delay is the supply of fuel in drums and not by tankers. According to Mr. Moosa filling of underground tanks with drums takes more time, which causes delay for the public too.
Meanwhile, he assured that another cargo ship with a consignment of petrol and diesel is about to sail from Port Blair within two days after which there will be no shortage of fuel and there won’t be any rush too.
