Date:09/01/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/09/stories/2009010952490200.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Officers’ strike adds fuel

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: Day one of an indefinite strike by officers of public sector oil companies on Wednesday saw petrol bunks in and around Chennai running out of stocks and almost all liquefied petroleum gas distributors going without fresh load of cylinders.

Operations at the installations of Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd, particularly bottling plants and oil terminals, were affected as a handful of senior officials struggled to keep the facilities running. Almost similar was the scenario at Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd’s refinery in suburban Manali.

Sources among Indane distributors said that only a few of them received loads on Wednesday and even they were loaded on to the trucks on Tuesday late evening.