Territorial army ensures energy security for violence-hit Manipur, averts major crisis

In view of Manipur violence, workers of oil marketing companies could not reach oil installations due to security constraints. The installations were either shut down due to non availability of employees or were operating partially due to manpower shortage, defence sources said.

Tezpur: The Territorial Army of the Indian Army has ensured energy security for violence-hit Manipur and thereby helped in averting a major crisis, said defence officials on Monday. Raised nearly four decades back to handle emergencies, this battalion of the Army has over 100 employees of Indian Oil and have been trained by the Army along with the oil company to manage any oil installation independently.

Defence spokesperson Lt. Col. Mahendra Rawat said that in the wake of the crisis that engulfed Manipur, the employees and contract workers of oil marketing companies were not able to reach installations due to security constraints or had to be evacuated due to ethnic violence. So, the installations were either shut down due to non availability of employees or, not fully operational due to manpower shortage, Rawat said.

This resulted in the operational necessity of deploying Territorial Army to manage the three vital oil installations that were the energy life line for Manipur, Rawat added. These are namely Imphal Aviation Fueling Station, Malom Bulk Oil Depot and Sekmai LPG Bottling Plant.

The battalion was entrusted to take control of the oil installations which were not operational and augment manpower where there was a dearth along with ensuring supplies of essential POL products and refueling of aircrafts, Rawat said. Within 48 hours of the directive, the battalion reached Imphal and relentlessly worked for the next 12 hrs.

Following which, Malom Depot was made fully operational. The tank trucks were dispatched, ATF tankers decanted and several flights, both civil and defence, were refueled, he said adding that currently, the depot is operating with the same efficiency that existed prior to the crisis. Till now, more than 400 tank trucks have been despatched to various petrol pumps across Manipur, Manipur Police, Army and Assam Rifles units.

In view of the Territorial Army battalion's excellent performance, its initial task was expanded. It was asked to assist in the operations of Sekmai LPG Bottling Plant, located 26 km from the Imphal. This task too was completed successfully with around 8000-10000 cylinders being despatched daily.

The concerned 414 Army Service Corps Battalion Marketing or the Territorial Army was raised in 1983 by Government of India and is affiliated to Marketing Division. Lt Gen HS Sahi, AVSM,YSM, SM, General Officer Commanding 3 Corps visited the unit and applauded the battalion for averting a major crisis that could escalate to unfathomable levels and ensured energy security for Manipur.