Strikes, hartals crippling supply

KOCHI: While inordinate delays in gas supply put customers on the edge, gas distributors throw the buck back saying they cannot be blamed. The increasing number of hartals and strikes are the actual culprits, they say.“Whenever there is a delay in supply, there is a perception that the distributors are diverting the distribution and making money in the black market. But that is not the case. If you see, the backlogs are maximum in April and May when hartals and other holidays were more in number,” said Bharat Gas Distributors Association general secretary, A R Venugopal.Roy Thekkan, convenor of the LPG Consumers Redressal Cell, seconds the claim. Roy has filed a case before the Kerala High Court on the issue. According to a study conducted by him, Bharat Petroleum alone has lost as many as 1,180 loads of cylinders during the 14-month period between May 2009 and July 2010 owing to hartals and strikes in the state.Each load comprises 300 gas cylinders. This would thus account for 3,54,000 cylinders in the course of around one year. The numbers are even more alarming in the case of Indane. In an eight month period between July 2009 and March 2010, Indane lost as many as 2,625 loads of cylinders(7,87,500) owing to hartals and strikes.Will exempting LPG from hartals help? “There is no simple solution for this issue,” said A R Venugopal. “The employees will find it difficult to commute to office on a hartal day.  So it won’t help. Besides, many a times the employees’ union will also be a part of the agitation,” he said.