TN, Pondy Indane Distributors to resort to strike

Chennai, Apr 25 (UNI) All the 397 Indane Distributors of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry would remain closed tomorrow in protest against the illegal stoppage of LPG gas-cylinder loads by the Public Sector Indian Oil Employees Union.

Talking to newspersons here today V Rajagopal General Secretary of the Indane Distributors Association of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry said they were compelled to take this extreme step, as they have no other alternative to draw the attention of the IOC authorities to their plight.

He alleged that the IOC Employees Union were unwarrantedly interfering in both the production and distribution of LPG in the last one month, causing severe harships to the distributors, as well as the consumers. Due to their illegal interference, the customers were not in a position to receive their refile cylinder in time, he alleged.

Mr Rajagopal said in Chennai city alone, there were about 1.5 lakh consumers, struggling to refill their cylinders, even after 25 days of booking.

He said the the Union, besides indulging in sobotage of the regular supply of LPG cylinders to the distributors, had also compelled the delivery boys attached with the distributors to join the Union and to resort to strike. It was highly condemnable, he added.

He said, if the IOC administration questioned about the illegal act of the Union, the office-bearers of the Union were threatening to go for a strike.

He also criticised that due to the negligience of the employees of the Indane Bottling Plant, they could not follow the safety rules, while filling the LPG in to the cylinders, causing inconvenience to the customers.

He alleged that the Union members very often threatened the distributors and demanded money from them. Despite several complaints, the IOC authorities had not bothered.

Mr Rajagopal said most of the 50-lakh Indane customers, would be affected for the next three days because of tomorrow's strike.

Even after the strike, if the authorities failed to take steps to solve the issue, they would not hesitate to go on an indefinite strike, he added.

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