The Southern Region Bulk LPG Transport Owners Association (SRBLPGTOA), which has been observing a strike since Thursday over a host of issues, will decide its further course of action at its extra-ordinary general body meeting at Namakkal on Monday.
Stating that the negotiations with oil companies – Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation – were not fruitful, association secretary N.R. Karthik told reporters in Namakkal that the association had not finalised the date for the next round of talks with officials of the oil companies.
The decision of the association was conveyed by its leaders at a meeting convened by the Civil Supplies Department in Chennai on Saturday to find a solution to the strike of the transporters. The bullet LPG vehicles transport the fuel from refineries and terminals to bottling plants in south India and Goa.
The owners of the vehicles had been seeking finalisation of the new transport contract and induction of an additional 500 vehicles by the oil marketing companies, prolonging would affect the cooking gas supplies to several lakh households.
On Saturday, the Civil Supplies Department, which played the role of a facilitator, held a marathon meeting, which began around 10 a.m. and concluded near midnight.
Addressing press persons at the end of the meeting, Civil Supplies Commissioner P.M. Basheer Ahamed said that the meeting went off smoothly but a few issues remained to be resolved between the oil companies and the transporters.
The association wanted to brief its members of the meeting, particularly the offer of the companies to finalise the transport contract at Rs.2.50 per tonne per kilometre.
The average mileage for each of the bullet tankers was pegged at 3,500 km per month.
The oil marketing companies, he added, wanted the strike to be withdrawn before the next round of discussion.
The transporters association was led by its president M. Poonambalam. The meeting was attended by senior officials of the LPG division of the oil companies.
State level coordinator for the oil industry (Tamil Nadu and Puducherry) V.K. Jayachandran said LPG stocks were available at the bottling plants and expected to last till Monday.
