Days after Assam and Mizoram held bilateral dialogue and arrived at a consensus to maintain peace along the inter-state boundary, tensions still continue to brew in the region.
In a fresh incident, locals in Assam's Cachar district allegedly vandalised four Mizoram-bound trucks on Friday night. This comes despite the withdrawal of travel advisory notice by the Assam government where it appealed to locals to allow the movement of goods-laden vehicles to Mizoram.
The trucks were carrying eggs from Karimganj and were going towards Mizoram. When the trucks reached the Bhaga Bazar area in Cachar district, some people stopped the vehicles and asked where they were headed.
When the drivers said the trucks were headed to Mizoram, the locals vandalised the vehicles and threw the eggs on the road.Later, the police reached the spot and controlled the situation.
Following which, the Mizoram government ordered rationing the purchase of diesel and petrol as the movement of vehicles, including the tankers carrying fuel, continued to remain shut on National Highway-306.?
The order issued by the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department on Friday said that the state could face a huge crisis of fuel, which comes via neighbouring Assam, due to the inter-state border dispute.
"All filling stations are instructed not to issue petrol and diesel beyond the permitted quantities. Only those vehicles that go to filling stations will be issued oil," the order said.
The quantity of fuel that can be purchased at a time by heavy motor vehicles such as six, eight and twelve wheelers is capped at 50 litres, and 20 litres for medium motor vehicles like pick-up trucks.Maximum three litres of oil is allowed for scooters, five litres for other two-wheelers, and 10 litres for cars, the order said.
Trucks carrying rice bags, oil and LPG will be allowed to get fuel, which will be sufficient enough for up and down travel, it said.Drawing of fuel in containers or gallon barrels from filling stations is strictly prohibited, it said.
The order also said that all filling stations will have to submit active stock positions to the state Legal Metrology Department every day.They should not distribute oil without prior permission of the Supply Department when their stock position stands at 5,000 litres for petrol and 7,000 liters for high-speed diesel, it added.
All filling stations will be opened from 6 am to 6 pm from Monday to Saturday.?The movement of vehicles on the NH-306 continued to be shut even as the Assam government withdrew the advisory over travelling in Mizoram, following the border clash between the two Northeastern states, officials said.
As most of Mizoram's supplies come via Assam through the NH-306, the no movement of vehicles for the last two weeks has hit the resources, including essential items, they said.
The tensions between Assam-Mizoram had flared up following a clash between the police forces of the two states along the border on July 26. Seven people -- including six Assam Police personnel and a civilian -- were killed and over 50 others were injured in the clashes.
On August 5, Assam Cabinet ministers Atul Bora and Ashok Singhal visited Aizawl to meet Mizoram government ministers and discuss the situation along the inter-state border.
After deliberations, both the state governments signed a joint statement and agreed to diffuse the prevailing tensions along the border and find lasting solutions through discussions.
On Friday, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma made an appeal to the people to allow vehicles to move to Mizoram.?