Associations called for strike demanding changes in tender conditions

Oil companies, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited and Indian Oil Corporation Limited, have approached the Madras High Court to restrain the southern region bulk LPG transport owners’ associations from going on an indefinite strike from Monday.

The associations called for the strike demanding various changes in the tender conditions for bulk transportation of LPG for 2018-2023.

Filing separate but identical writ petitions in the court, the companies also sought a direction to the Commissioner of Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection department as well as the Director General of Police to invoke the provisions of the Essential Commodities Act of 1955.

They wanted the officials to ensure uninterrupted supply of LPG products across the State and adequate police protection at various LPG loading and unloading locations maintained by the petitioner companies in Coimbatore, Thoothukudi, Thanjavur, Chennai and other places.

In affidavits, filed through their counsel V. Anantha Natarajan, the public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) stated that they together had 22.93 crore registered LPG customers, of whom 22.68 crore were in the domestic category and 19.16 crore were active customers.

Nearly 47% of the domestic customers had double bottle connections and all of them were served by the oil companies through 18,480 LPG distributors. The OMCs operated 189 LPG bottling plants across the country with rated bottling capacity of 15.6 million tonnes per annum.

The OMCs were also operating 674 auto LPG dispensing stations and the LPG coverage of the country estimated on the basis of active domestic connections and estimated household was approximately 70.5%, they stated.

If the transporters who shift LPG from refineries to bottling plants in the southern States go on strike, the entire supply system would get affected, the companies feared and sought the court’s intervention.