News Detail

• With the LPG tanker owners refusing to accept the oil companies’ final offer of Rs2.80 per tonne per kilometre, their indefinite strike will continue into its fifth day on Tuesday.The oil companies have already started making other arrangements to bring LPG into the city. The South Zone Motor Transporters’ Welfare Association (SZMTWA) has called the strike.

• B Ashok, state coordinator, IOCL, said the road-fed plants were worried about the strike as supply to their plants had stopped ever since the tankers stopped work. He said considering that only IOCL brings LPG into the city through rakes, BPCL and HPCL have a problem on their hands as these two are fed by road.

• Nevertheless, BPCL officials claim that there is no problem. An official said there was adequate stock to last 10 days, adding that the customers were not affected with any shortage thus far. He said the tankers that were filled before the strike began are still coming to the city with the supply. He said 50 such tankers would come to Bangalore on Tuesday.

Meeting demand

• IOCL, which has the biggest plant in Bangalore, gets LPG through rakes. As such, IOCL is able to meet most of its demands, Ashok saidFor the last two days, HPCL has been bringing LPG into the city by filling cylinders at the Mangalore filling station. An HPCL official said that by filling cylinders in Mangalore, they eliminate the need for bulk transfer of LPG.However, the official added, there were certain limitations to this and it was only a way to tide over the current problem, which sees no signs of ending.

• According to GR Shanmugappa, general secretary of the SZMTWA, there is no scope for compromise. “It has been three years since the rates of transporting LPG were revised. We have been working for Rs2.45 per tonne per km from 2008. It simply does not make sense for us to operate at anything less than Rs3. We stand by our demand to increase rates. The strike will continue,” he said.

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