LAMKA, April 26: The oil consumers of Churachandpur are in dire straits as the price of petrol and diesel have sky rocketed due to the bandh called by the people living along the highway en-route the capital they seem to be privileged with monopolizing the Manipur economy.
Talking to IFP, Sang who commutes all the way to Tuithapi which is about 5kms from Lamka to earn his daily keep says that when the price of fuel is considered high, it invariably means that the prices hover about at the Rs80-100 per liter mark disturbing to normal trade in the highways hasten the inflation of consumable commodities: especially fuel, at an alarming pace.
Another consumer Lianpu, who runs a saw mill lamented that he has had to procure diesel at the rate of Rs 70 per litre which leads to a decrease of profits in his mall. His personal plight, he said was further fuelled by the fact that he has five workers to pay and a family to feed. The scarcity of petrol is such that even those selling petrol on the black market have to procure their stock from neighboring states which also has its own fluctuations in regards to price. This at times has often lead to heavy losses as those in the black market stock fuel at high rates during times of unrest but then face losses once the situation normalizes.