LPG transporters to decide on strike tomorrow

Lorry Tankers Association will decided here tomorrow whether to continue with the indefinite strike as the tripartite talks held last night remained 'inconclusive'.

The talks that lasted for more than 13 hours between top executives of oil marketing companies and the Association representatives, in the presence of Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Commissioner PM Basheer Ahamed, did not yield results.

Floating of new tenders and inclusion of about 500 tanker lorries were among those demands made by the Association representing the LPG tanker lorry industry, considered as one of the biggest in the country.

The association was on strike for the last three days.

According to the Southern Region LPG Tanker Lorry Transport Owners Association, about 3,700 tanker lorry transport LPG across the southern states including Puducherry and Goa.

According to Ahamed, OMCs offered to increase transportation charge from Rs 2.23 per tonne per km to Rs 2.50.

The association has been demanding to fix the rate at Rs 3.50 per tonne per km owing to increase in input costs including rise of salaries and other expenditure.

According to an association representative, over the last few years prices of a lorry tyre increased from Rs 24,000 to Rs 36,000 besides rise of fuel and maintenance costs.

"It has been decided to offer Rs 2.50 per tonne per km as transport charges and inclusion of about 500 new tankerlorries. The association has said that they would inform about their decision on Monday after consulting their members," Ahamed said.

On an average the tanker lorry owners ply about 3,500 kms per month. A tanker lorry, on a single trip, carry about 17.5 metric tonne. From Chennai on a single day, about 700 metric tonnes of LPG is transported to various places, association sources said.

A senior oil company official said the price of paying Rs 2.50 per tonne per kilometre to the tankers was the "best solution" since, even a single paisa increase in the rates would cost them about Rs 2.50 crore on a single day. Currently, OMCs pay about Rs 2.23 per tonne per kilometre which was fixed in the earlier tender floated three years back. The tender ended October 31, 2011.

"This is one of the best possible offers made by us...," the official said adding this rate was the same fixed for tanker lorries fixed in the Eastern region of the country.

"Compared to the roads and transport services there [in the eastern region], here [in southern region] it is good...," he said, hoping that the tankers would call off their strike on Monday.

According to the Southern Region LPG Tanker Lorry Transport Owners Association President M Ponnambalam they would discuss the issue with their members at their headquarters in Namakkal and a decision would be taken in the presence of Commissioner on Monday. "They have given their offer, we will talk with our members in Namakkal [on that]...," he said.

"I am hoping that probably, on Monday evening, they [association] would withdraw the strike...," a government official said.

Last Thursday, company executives of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), Indian Oil Corporation and Hindustan Petroleume met Chief Secretary Debendranath Sarangi to take stock of the issue.