Indian Oil Corporation says the strikes are not affecting its LPG supply to consumers. | Photo credit: File photo
Disruption of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) supply seems to have become a routine matter in the city, with oil and gas company plants witnessing frequent strikes by various sections of the workforce. This year alone, at least four riots have been reported at facilities of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) in Kochi for various reasons.
In the latest incident, a section of truck drivers at the BPCL LPG bottling plant in Ambalamedu went on a non-cooperation strike on Tuesday over alleged discrimination by the company in the distribution of Deepavali sweets. The movement of rollers to six districts was affected as drivers stayed off work in the morning.
A voicemail from a union member that circulated among drivers cited alleged discrimination as the reason for the impromptu strike. It was alleged that the BPCL authorities ignored the drivers while distributing the sweets saying that they are not part of the company.
No union or company has officially responded to the incident. A BPCL source confirmed that the movement of around 55 LPG cylinders was affected by the drivers’ decision to avoid work.
“It will take at least six days to resolve the backlog caused by the disruption,” the official said, adding that instead of announcing strikes, workers were avoiding duty for various reasons.
In March, the movement of LPG cylinders from the IOC bottling plant at Udayamperoor was affected by a flash strike by loading and unloading workers over the delay in the release of their wages. The supply of LPG cylinders to Ernakulam, Idukki, Thrissur, Kottayam, Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha districts was interrupted following the strike.
The following month, another flash strike by workers loading and unloading LPG cylinders at BPCL’s bottling plant followed a shift dispute. The strike reportedly affected the supply of around 45,000 bottles, both domestic and commercial, in seven districts. During the last week of September, the operation of the IOC plant was temporarily affected due to the agitation of some contract workers. News of a shortage of LPG cylinders caused by the strike then caused panic among consumers in the city and escalated distribution problems.
The IOC, meanwhile, argued that the outages caused by the strikes were not affecting their supply to consumers. “The number of disturbances has actually reduced in recent years. Even if there is any incident, the IOC can ensure that supply is not affected as we have enough infrastructure including terminals and bottling plants to handle the situation,” an IOC official said.
Published – 22 Oct 2025 22:29 IST
