A strike by 120 contract labourers and drivers of LPG trucks near the Indian Oil Tanking Limited (IOTL) bottling plant in Manali has led to a fall in supply to the city.
Since the strike by the load men started on October 17, the plant has been barely functioning. The strike against work started after fresh contracts were awarded for trucks to load/unload and transport cylinders, and the load men’s services were no longer required.
The contract stipulates that the contractor employ personnel for loading/unloading of cylinders, said a source in Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL).
The new contractors chose to bring in their own load men, leaving these men jobless, the source added.
In the last 10 days, production has been affected and 2.4 lakh cylinders could not be supplied to the city since the men did not allow trucks to enter the bottling plant. Around 40 Indane distributors, who provide supplies to around six lakh consumers, are attached to the plant.
However, company sources said that since the demand for cylinders was on the lower side, the supply to the city was not affected and they managed with supplies from other plants.
On Tuesday, after a meeting between the new contractors, who are LPG distributors, and the labourers, the group of striking men allowed about 10 trucks, each carrying 306 cylinders, outside the plant.
Selvaraj of the Tamil Nadu Petroleum Gas Workers Union said that IOCL must ensure that the workers are provided jobs. “They cannot just be stopped overnight. They have families to feed,” he said.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the Manali police arrested one Allahpitchai after he broke the glass of two trucks, belonging to the new contractors, which had come to collect cylinders.
