Kochi residents protest over denial of LPG transfer

KOCHI: The Ernakulam District Residents Association Apex Council (RACE) is planning to organize a protest march to the office of the Indian Oil Corporation on Thursday.
This is in the wake of the oil companies’ decision to deny customers the option to transfer cooking gas connections from one company to the other. Even though domestic households have the option to transfer their cooking gas connections the companies have made it clear that they won’t entertain transfer requests from their customers.
According to the association of cooking gas distributors, agencies in the city had been receiving 10 to 15 transfer requests from their customers.
“In an earlier meeting convened by the district collector, oil companies had said they were ready to allow transfer requests of the customers,” said RACE former president S Balakrishnan.
He said companies such as Bharatgas and HP had been sending gas cylinders from here to Coimbatore after meeting requirements here. While IOC fails to cater to the requirements of the consumers and have a waiting period of 50-60 days, other companies were being able to deliver it in 10-15 days, he added.
According to the association, if they were allowed to switch from one company to the other, the waiting period could be reduced. RACE president Rangadasa Prabhu said the collector had agreed to discuss the issue. “Our present infrastructure, including bottling capacity is not sufficient enough to add more customers. If we allow transfer requests from other companies, it will be difficult for us to cater requirements of our existing customers,” an official with Bharatgas said. He said even though the company had plans to set up a bottling plant in Kozhikode and upgrade the existing facility in Kochi, financial constraints pose a major issue.