Sale of LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas) continued to be affected for the second day in a row as 46 gas dispensing stations stuck to their ‘No Purchase Campaign’ that began on Monday. About 20 per cent of the autorickshaws did not ply on Tuesday, causing severe hardships to commuters.

The auto LPG outlets under the aegis of Bangalore Petroleum Dealers Association (BPDA), stopped dispensing the fuel, after stocks ran dry, seeking protection against the alleged harassment and attacks from autorickshaw drivers on petrol/fuel station staffers.

This move affected about 75,000 autorickshaws and about 15,000 other vehicles that run on liquid petroleum gas, as LPG stocks in about 95 percent of bunks were exhausted.

Ravindranath B R, vice-president of Bangalore Petroleum Dealers Association (BPDA), told Deccan Herald that all petrol bunk dealers have supported the campaign.

“We have been increasingly facing harassment from motorists and auto drivers who use abusive language and threaten violence against LPG dealers and their staff by taking the law into their hands. No proper procedure for sealing, calibration and checking exists,” he said.

Adarsha Auto Drivers Union president M Manjunath said automen were being victimised over the whole issue. He said that dealers were cheating them in quantity of fuel dispensed.

Oil PSU companies however maintain that LPG being dispensed at the fuel stations were done in a fair and transparent manner. A senior official of the Indian Oil Corporation (State Co-ordination) committee said, oil companies have a calibration method that is tamper proof.

Fresh talks today
Bangalore Urban District deputy commissioner M A Sadiq has convened a meet with representatives of oil companies, dealers, police officials and auto unions on Wednesday to resolve the deadlock. This follows a meet convened by Transport Commissioner M Lakshminarayana with officials from the food and civil supplies department and dealers.