GUWAHATI: Much to the relief of LPG consumers in the North East, the indefinite strike called by North East Packed LPG Transporters Association since August 27 last, was withdrawn on Tuesday evening.
“We had a tripartite meeting with state food and civil supplies minister Phani Bhushan Choudhury in the presence of the home commissioner and Indian Oil Corporation chief general manager, at Dispur this evening and it was decided that the date for issuing the new tenders for packed LPG transportation has been extended to March 31, 2021. Besides, the authorities have assured to consult the association before fixing the new tender rates,” the association’s advisor Kumud Nath told The Shillong Times on Tuesday evening.
“Hence, we have decided to call off our indefinite strike and start operations from Wednesday morning onwards,” Nath said.
The association had earlier staged the strike demanding revision of the new tender rates by taking into account factors such as fuel prices, taxes, accessories, repair and maintenance, etc.
There are about 1500 members under the transporters association and about 5000 trucks operate across the Northeast every day.
IOC had in a statement a couple of days back, expressed concern that the strike would put all LPG consumers in the Northeast in distress, especially at a time when most people are operating from home due to the pandemic.
“Prior to the strike, the backlog of LPG cylinder delivery in the region had been reduced from nearly 10 days to only 1.6 days recently, which has increased to over two days as the strike progresses,” it said.
Stocks of agencies dealing with LPG cylinders here were drying up with the indefinite strike called by the association entering its sixth day on Tuesday morning.
“We are doing with the leftover stock that we had over the week as no trucks have deposited any stock since the past six days,” an employee of an LPG agency here told The Shillong Times on Tuesday.
There are nine bottling plants in the Northeast that distribute close to 2lakh cylinders every day.
Sources said that close to 1.5 lakh customers per day were bbeing affected by the indefinite strike staged since August 27 last in protest against the rate of packed transportation tenders for Indian Oil Corporation’s (IOC) bottling plants floated recently.