KOCHI: The strike by workers at the LPG bottling plant of the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) at Udayamperoor continued for the fifth day on Tuesday with IOC failing to meet the demand of the workers to deploy an ambulance at the bottling plant, to take workers to hospital in an emergency. The workers launched a dharna in front of the plant on Tuesday and insisted that the strike will continue until their demand is met.
“The IOC officials had gone back on Monday saying that they will discuss the issue with the higher-ups in Delhi and convey a decision at 10 am on Tuesday. But they did not turn up today. The Additional District Magistrate (ADM) told us that the Ernakulam District Collector is away in Thiruvananthapuram and will be back only on Wednesday and a decision on holding talks can be taken after his return,” said a trade union leader at the Udayamperoor plant.
An IOC official said that they are yet to hear from the higher-ups in Delhi on deploying ambulance. “It is a policy decision and has to come from Delhi,” he said. The LPG cylinder distribution by IOC in the central districts of Ernakulam, idukki, Thrissur, Kottayam, Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha remains paralysed due to the strike. A total of 150 loads, each of which contains 306 LPG cylinders, flow out of the Udayamperoor plant every day. AITUC workers are not participating in the strike.
