LPG Issue: Residents’ associations take out march to Collectorate

Protesting against the new regulations on the number of subsidised LPG cylinders, various residents’ associations in the city jointly staged a dharna in front of the District Collectorate here on Thursday. Hundreds of people, including women and children took part in the protest.

They staged the protest by cooking with firewood on the Collectorate premises.

Thrikkakara municipal chairman P I Muhamad Ali inaugurated the dharna. On the occasion, he said that the number of subsidized cylinders should be increased with immediate effect. At least one subsidised cylinder should be provided to a family in a month. People are also reeling under the price rise of essential commodities, he said.

The restriction on the number of subsidised cylinders to flat dwellers will have an adverse effect on the urban life.

“The decision to give only six such cylinders to those residing in apartments is a violation of the human rights,” Ali said.   

 “Though the functioning of the bottling unit was resumed at Udayamperoor plant, the IOC has failed to bring the cylinder distribution to normalcy.

 “Also the safety of cylinders should be ensured. Recently there were several cylinder burst incidents in Ernakulam district owing to the lethargy of the oil companies. The situation should be changed,” he said.