THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Southern districts of the state faced shortage of cooking gas following a flash strike by a section of lorry drivers at the LPG bottling plant of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC) at Parippally. On an average 120 truckloads of LPG are despatched daily from the unit to 87 distribution agents in Thiruvnanthapuram, Alappuzha, Kollam and Pathanamthitta. The flash strike was called following a incident in which the police took a bike belonging to lorry driver into custody.
According to sources, a lorry driver who was speaking on his mobile phone while riding a bike was asked to stop. But he refused to stop and sped away. Later he parked the bike in between the lorries. The cops took the bike into custody which led to a flash strike by lorry drivers affecting the bottling work. It was only on Thursday evening that the issue was resolved.
When contacted, Parippally SI Umarul Farooq said “While patrolling the area we spotted the man riding the bike in a rash manner and was also speaking on his mobile phone. He didn’t stop despite being signalled to do so and fled after abandoning his motorcycle in front of the gate of IOC. We had to take the vehicle into custody as the area was sensitive. However, the union members protested while we tried to seize the vehicle. The driver and the vehicle were later released on bail. We have charged sections of IPC 279 and 132 (1) of Motor Vehicle Act."
