Centre should have ensured adequate LPG supply, oil reserves to prevent crisis: Mamata

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday criticised the Centre for the LPG supply constraint, accusing it of failing to ensure adequate reserves of cooking gas and petroleum products amid a nationwide shortage due to the West Asia crisis. Speaking to a Bengali news channel, Banerjee said the central government should have first ensured sufficient reserves of LPG, oil and gas in the country before imposing restrictions in the wake of the ongoing energy supply disruptions. "The central government should have first ensured enough reserves of LPG, oil and gas. Without that, they have imposed restrictions sans any proper planning to tackle the situation," she said. Banerjee alleged that the Centre was focusing more on politics rather than addressing the issues arising out of the energy situation. "The Centre can conduct SIR and delete voters, but it cannot manage the country's gas and oil reserves," she said, in a reference to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in several states. The chief minister further claimed that the Centre's lack of a proper policy framework to deal with the emerging crisis was indirectly encouraging black marketeers. "Lack of proper policy by the Centre to tackle the crisis is indirectly helping the black marketeers," she alleged.