Patna: The Bihar state office of the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd on Saturday called the transporters' three-day strike starting from August 27 illegal an arm-twisting tactic to pressure the management of the Maharatna company.

The response came in the wake of The Telegraph report on August 24 which described the step to be taken by the transporters that ferry cylinders from IOCL's bottling plants to distributors against the reduction in the rates on which the cylinders are transported.

A note issued by the corporation on Friday mentioned the present transportation rates are comparable with the existing rates other than public sector undertakings such as HPCL and BPCL for locations in Bihar and Jharkhand. Further, the tender itself contains provision for escalation of the transportation rate with change in rate of high spirit diesel.

"The new packed LPG transportation tender was made public on August 16 this year for the Patna bottling plant located in Gidha in Bhojpur district since the existing contract with LPG transporters will expire on September 15, 2018," it stated.

Veena Kumari, chief manager, corporate communications and planning and co-ordination, IOCL, Bihar-Jharkhand, said: "The proposed joint strike by transporters is illegal as they are obliged to continue transporting cylinders from bottling plants to distributors as per the current contract which will expire on September 15, 2018."

Veena added: "The strike is an arm-twisting tactic and a violation of the contract therefore it would invite penal action against them."

The Bihar-Jharkhand LPG Packed Transporters' Union on Thursday called a three-day strike alleging reduction in cost of transportation by more than 50 per cent. However, according to the union, the transporters associated with Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum would not take part in the strike.

Jitendra Kumar Singh, president, Bihar-Jharkhand LPG Packed Transporters' Union, on Thursday said transporters ferrying IOCL's LPG cylinders from five bottling plants (Gidha, Barauni, Muzaffarpur, Bokaro and Jamshedpur) will halt operations from August 27 to 29 in protest against the decline in transportation rates by the IOCL.