Kashmir fuel supply hit, tanker operators go on strike

JAMMU - Fuel supplies to all petrol stations in Jammu and Kashmir were hit Thursday after oil tanker operators in the state stopped ferrying petrol and diesel to protest the continuing harassment of tanker drivers in the valley.

The All Jammu and Kashmir Oil Tankers Association said the state government had been indifferent to the harassment and manhandling of drivers in the valley.

Anand Sharma, president of the association, said the state government had assured that the drivers would be protected.

“But those assurances have been observed in breach. We have been forced to suspend supply for an indefinite period in all parts of the state,” he said.

The suspension of supplies follows a recent incident in Bijbehara, 248 km north of Jammu on the Jammu-Srinagar highway, where stone-pelting agitators had “dragged drivers of tankers and beat them mercilessly”, Sharma said.