CHENNAI: As the indefinite strike by the LPG tanker lorry owners in Tamil Nadu entered day five on Friday, Chennai is likely to face a supply crunch in a couple of days. Cylinder distributors across the city said the demand has doubled in the last three days.
The strike called on by the ‘Southern Region Bulk LPG Transport Owners Association’ on Monday, primarily demands scrapping state-level tenders for rental tanker lorries to distribute cooking gas cylinders and also to continue with the existing system of floating regional level tenders by the public sector oil companies.
Owing to the strike, over 4,000 lorries did not operate for the past five days and 18,000 tonnes of gas supply was affected per day.
Unlike most other places in Tamil Nadu with large godowns that can store the cylinder supply for three days, Chennai gas agencies with relatively small warehouses are dependant on daily supply.
“The demand for the cylinders has increased manifold and we cannot maintain the situation for more than a day. Comparatively Madurai and Tiruchy are in a better condition. With a lot of gas agencies recently opened, transferring cylinders might help the case, but for a very short period,” said a worker at a gas agency.
On the other hand, members of the striking association refused to call off the protest, saying they have invested nearly '900 crore in the business foreseeing a rise in demand. They said the strike would continue till the Central government would come to a favourable conclusion.
