Srinagar: Kerosene retailers Thursday staged protest demonstrations at Press colony here in Srinagar, demanding revocation of order wherein 33 per cent reduction has been made to allocation of oil to the state.
The protestors assembled under the banner of Coordination Committee Retail Kerosene Oil Dealers and raised slogans in favour of their demands.
Mushtaq Ahmad, a protestor, said that the livelihood of 4000 people depends on retail depots.
“We feed our families when we earn from selling kerosene. When government will reduce the already deficit quota, it will make things worse for us,” he added.
The cut in allocation was done by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas under letter number P-21016/412012 dated December 31, 2014.
The official documents reveal that the allotment to most other states had been maintained at former level with virtually no reduction, but the curtailment to Jammu and Kashmir is 33.34 per cent. The reduction is 0.01 percent to Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh.
“Now, according to the new allocation, each ration card holder will get just three litres of kerosene on an average per month,” said the protestors.