Indane cylinder lorry drivers attached to the IOTL (Indian Oil Tanking Ltd) bottling plant in Manali returned to work on Wednesday, ten days after they went on a strike.
The strike, in support of their demand for more loads (a little over 300 cooking gas refills make a load) from the plant, affected supplies from the facility. It is one of the three liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) bottling plants on which Indane supplies in Chennai and neighbourhood depend.
Sources among Indane distributors said, the backlog of refills to be supplied, was three-four days with those fed by the Manali plant.
While calling off the strike on Monday following a conciliation meeting, the drivers said they would return to work after Pongal. Even on Wednesday, not all of them reported for work as some were yet to return to the city after the festival, sources among transporters said.
A.Devakar Selwyn, Secretary, LPG Cylinder Transport Contractors Association, said the plant functioned for one shift and 17 loads were despatched. The strike, which began on January 6, was in view of the drop in the number of loads from the plant, from around 100 to 28 a day. Since they are paid a nominal salary and bulk of their income is from the payment per load paid by transporters, the drivers demand more loads.