Some LPG distributors told The Sangai Express that their hill based counterparts are one major contributor for sale of LPG refills in black markets when people of the State face scarcity of the same commodity due to one reason or another.
Most of the LPG distributors based in hill districts operate from Imphal.
There are also suspicions that these distributors hold back blue books of their consumers rather than distributing them and manipulate the whole process of LPG distribution with the help of the blue books .
All those related with LPG distribution know which hill-based LPG distributors operate from Imphal .
Majority of the LPG consumers of hill districts do not have bank accounts or Aadhar cards.
Even if some of them have Aadhar cards, they don’t get the subsidy given on LPG as they don’t have bank accounts .
Village chiefs used to bring consumer cards in bunches and they do what they like in collusion with LPG distributors .
Interestingly, a truck loaded with LPG refills at Sekmai bottling plant and dispatched to LPG distributor based in the interior area of a hill district would come to the bottling plant the next day .
If the trucks loaded with LPG refills and dispatched to far off places like Pherzawl, Kasom Khullen, Tousem etc, and come back with empty cylinders the next day, one need not question whether the loaded trucks reached their destination or not.
The same is also known to IOC officials working at Sekmai bottling plant .
The picture becomes clearer if one takes into account that some hill-based LPG distributors offered truck load of LPG refills of 14.2 Kg capacity to their valley based counterparts for diversion to black markets.
Source: The Sangai Express
