CHENNAI: The supply and booking of cooking gas cylinders of the Indian Oil Corporation will be hit across Tamil Nadu on Wednesday as its distributors opt for a one-day closure, protesting the alleged interference in their operations by the company's Employees' Union.

Barring around 25 distributorships owned by cooperative societies, the remaining 400 Indane distributors across the State will cease work, inconveniencing around 1.5 lakh customers.

At a press conference here on Tuesday, leaders of the LPG Distributors Association (Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry), led by its president R. S. Jagadeesan, said the closure was necessitated due to interference by the Indian Oil Employees' Union in their operations, including stopping supplies from bottling plants.

Supplies cut

The Union was trying to form an association for cylinder delivery staff.

It was allegedly troubling distributors who opposed this idea and also not meeting its demands. Noting that the consumers were being made to suffer, the leaders said the supply of gas cylinders were recently cut to at least two distributors in Chennai and another at Dindigul. Supplies to several other distributors were also being slowed down now.

Clarifying that the distributors did not oppose the formation of a Union of the cylinder delivery staff, the leaders, however, said it was not possible for them to meet the Union's demand to reinstate staff dismissed on charges of irregularities, including diversion of subsidised cylinders. Stating that the delivery staff were "part of their family" and hence could not be neglected by the distributors, Mr. Jagadeesan said in order to compensate for Wednesday's closure, the Indane cooking gas agencies would, instead, function on Sunday. "The consumer must not suffer."

Moral support

The Chennai Indane Distributors Association president R. Sai Prakash said distributors of another national oil company were extending moral support to their agitation.

Sometime ago in a communication to IOC, seeking its intervention, he had said the Union was trying to "spread the seeds of discontent and discord among the delivery staff."

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