Around 500 delivery boys working with about 25 dealers, including those of Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum, abstained from work demanding implementation of various demands in Madurai on Monday.
As a sequel, normal delivery of LPG refills to homes and other consumers in the city and peripheries was hit throughout the day, the agitators claimed. Everyday, through the dealers, the city and suburban locations received 50 to 75 lorry loads and each truck transported around 300 LPG refills.
Speaking to reporters after submitting a memorandum to Collector Anshul Mishra here at the weekly grievance meeting, the delivery boys said that the police were insisting them to transport LPG refills only in tricycles and not on two-wheelers. At a time, when the city had expanded manifold, it was not easy to reach extension areas on tricycles. Repeated pleas to the police explaining the difficulties had not fetched any desired results.
In the absence of salaries from our employers (LPG distributors), it was tough to make both ends meet. “We rely entirely on tips given by consumers, which ranged anywhere between Rs. 5 and Rs. 10 per cylinder. A delivery boy may earn somewhere around Rs. 150 to Rs. 200,” they noted.
Further, on many occasions, during delivery, LPG cylinders were lifted from their tricycles by miscreants. Though complaints were lodged, they were hardly traced by the police. “Our employers also are more interested in getting money for the lost property than on taking steps to trace the refills,” they alleged.
“With a marginal sum of Re 1 given as commission per cylinder by the dealers, there is nothing else for us. Hence, we relied on the tips. When this was the real situation, the police stop us from using two-wheelers citing accidents,” they said and sought the intervention of the district administration.
