Oil tanker catches fire in Imphal IMPHAL, November 23 (NNN): An oil tanker parked at a fuel pump here caught fire on Wednesday. However, there were no casualties from the incident. A massive fire engulfed the oil tanker at PCTC fuel pump near the DM College, Imphal main gate in Imphal West around 11:40 am. The oil tanker operated by the PCTC was unloading petrol into an inappropriate vessel at the petrol pump when it caught on fire, according to reports. According to norms, petrol should only be unloaded into underground storage tanks. A large number of people who were standing in queue to get petrol had to flee the fuel station in panic due to the blaze. Fire Service personnel rushed to the site and managed to control the fire before it could spread to the petrol pump. The retail outlet was closed down following the incident. Manipur is witnessing fuel scarcity since the United Naga Council (UNC) intensified its indefinite economic blockade along Imphal-Dimapur highway, Imphal- Moreh road and Imphal-Jiribam highway over the issue of district creation plan of the Manipur government. The state government, however, has assured adequate supply of petroleum products. Oil and gas tankers are currently fetching the products through Imphal-Jiribam highway under heavy security arrangements taken up by the state government. Panchayat bypolls in eight Tripura districts on Dec 21 Agartala, November 23 (PTI): By-poll for one seat of Zilla Parishad, two Panchayat Samities and 44 Gram Panchayats in eight districts of Tripura would be held on December 21, official sources said. State Election Commissioner, G Kameswar Rao said official notification for the by-polls would be issued tomorrow and the entire process of the by-polls would be completed by December 26. "As the by-polls would be held in 25 blocks across eight districts of the state the Block Development Officers (BDO) would be appointed as Returning officers for the Gram Panchayats and Panchayat Samities. Election for only one Zilla Parishad in Unakoti district would be held and in that case the District Magistrate of Unakoti District would act as Returning officer", Rao told reporters last night. He said altogether 28,692 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the by-polls. Central team in Tripura to assess effect AGARTALA, November 23 (TNN): A delegation of the department of economic affairs arrived here to assess the situation on the ground after the demonetization of high-value Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. The delegation was headed by the joint secretary of the ministry of home affairs Kumar Alok. The Centre has sent a team to each state to engage with the people and talk about the problems they are facing. As many as 32 teams of 70 senior officers serving under various ministries have been formed by the department of personnel and training to undertake field visits in various states for on-the-spot assessment and provide inputs to the government. The team has already visited Champaknagar, Mandwai and Jirania areas here with local officers. The panic over Rs 10 coins, surprisingly, turned out to be on a much larger scale than that over demonetization, the officials said. Following the demonetization move, Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the troubles people were facing, and the demand to allow transactions with the old notes till December 30 and empower cooperative and rural banks to exchange notes for villagers.
