Northeast is on the way to face an artificial scarcity of petroleum products as well as other essential commodities very soon.

According to sources, the Indian railway authorities have been instructed to stop the movement of goods trains, including trains carrying petroleum products, to the Northeast citing the unrest going on in the region in protest against CAB, 2019.

The people of Assam, Tripura and Meghalaya have come out to the streets to stage protest against the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), 2019.

The protestors have also carried out railway blockade as part of the protests.

It may be mentioned that the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) in an order on Wednesday had cancelled/terminated/originated a total of 30 passenger trains.

Sources said, “The Centre has planned to create an artificial crisis of essential commodities including petroleum products that come from outside to Northeast as a strategy to weaken the massive protests being carried out in the region.”

It may be mentioned that despite curfew being clamped in Guwahati and the Army taking out flag march, a large number of protestors took to the streets in the city on Thursday to raise voice against the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), 2019.

A total of three anti-CAB protestors have died in firing by security forces and police in Guwahati.

While the CAB, 2019 was passed in the Lok Sabha on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday, the bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday night.

The bill seeks to grant Indian citizenship to persons belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have migrated to India after facing persecution on grounds of religion in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh if they fulfil conditions for grant of citizenship.