Aizawl : Mizoram faces a severe shortage of essential supplies, especially fuel, as the Mizoram Oil Tankers Drivers’ Association (MOTDA) has suspended operations since July 19 due to dangerously poor road conditions on the Aizawl-Silchar highway, the state’s main artery.

With only a few vehicles on Aizawl’s streets, most petrol stations have run dry. Repair work has started on the worst-damaged section of National Highway 306, between Kawnpui and Sairang, but the impact on transportation remains critical.

Officials from the state’s Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA) department told TOI on Sunday that around 50 oil tanker trucks received challans at Vairengte town, near the Assam border, by 9:30 pm Saturday. These trucks are en route to Aizawl and other towns.

FCS&CA Minister B Lalchhanzova received information Saturday evening from the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) depot manager at Vairengte that approximately 60 oil tanker trucks were entering Mizoram.

Although MOTDA officially called off its strike on Friday evening, many drivers continue to refuse to drive along NH-306, citing dangerous road conditions. Journeys that typically took a day now stretch into several days.

Besides oil tankers, hundreds of trucks carrying essential goods such as building materials remain stranded along NH-306 and NH-06. This has led to acute shortages across the state. Construction workers in Aizawl report that cement is no longer available, and a steel rod shortage has forced construction projects to halt.

Meanwhile, after arrangements by Minister Lalchhanzova, the Kolasib district administration started distributing food items, rice, lentils, onions, edible oil, and drinking water to the stranded truckers beginning Sunday afternoon.

Opposition parties, including the Mizo National Front (MNF), Congress, and BJP, have criticized the state government, describing the road conditions on NH-306 and NH-06 as the worst the state has faced this year.

Contractors from the National Highway Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) began repair work after the state Public Works Department handed over the most damaged stretches to NHIDCL on July 7, the opposition added.