Anti-CAB protests hits oxygen supply in NE, Bhutan

The indefinite curfew and mob protests in Assam’s main city Guwahati has especially hit the oxygen supply as vehicles ferrying oxygen cylinders have been stopped by protestors while police have also failed to provide adequate security to the vehicles.
 
A source in the oxygen manufacturing business in Guwahati, who supplies oxygen to almost all government and private hospitals in Guwahati, numerous other districts of Assam, bordering parts of Bhutan, and is the leading supplier to Meghalaya and Nagaland, said the supply vehicles have not been able to ply since last two days.
 
The source said, “The vehicles have not been able to ply since last two days, after the public protests started. The Health department has made no call to help us. We have repeatedly requested the police to help us, but they also pleaded helplessness.”
 
“Our vehicles are being stopped by mobs, who refuse to understand the essential nature of our service. Yesterday, our driver and labourers were beaten up outside the GMCH by a mob. The workers are now refusing to report for work. We have to double their pay, and still, we can’t reach on time,” he added.
 
The government today provided police escort for oxygen cylinder carrying vehicles to Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), but the private hospitals are left to their own means.
 
Some private hospitals are using their ambulances to carry the cylinders.
 
“Our costs have skyrocketed, but the government will not increase our payment as we are bound under contract. And to top it, payments are held up for more than one year by the government,” the source said.
 
Shortage of diesel is also affected the supply chain, the source said, adding that though the vehicles had filled up tanks, fuel availability is running low now.
 
He said, “For distances that took 45 minutes to one hour even during peak traffic hours, its taking 8-9 hours now, when there are no vehicles on the roads. We have to clear poles and debris to ply. And then, mobs stop us and we have to convince them to allow passage.”
 
Several parts of Assam, including Guwahati and Dibrugarh, have been under indefinite curfew since December 11, with Army assisting civil administration in maintaining law and order, and internet services also suspended.
 
The state has been opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, (CAB) that seeks to grant Indian citizenship to illegal Hindu, Parsi, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist and Christian migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, who had entered India prior to December 31, 2014, without any documents.
  The Bill has already been notified by the government, after both the Houses of the Parliament passed it earlier this week.
 
However, people of North Eastern states, especially Assam and Tripura, are demanding its revocation as they fear being "overrun" by non-Muslims from neighbouring Bangladesh.