Patna: The transporters' union on Thursday called a three-day strike starting August 27 to protest the cut in rates for transportation amid soaring diesel prices. The supply of LPG cylinders marketed by the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) will be hit.

Transporters, who ferry truckloads of LPG cylinders from bottling plants to distributors across the state, said the slashing of rates at which the cylinders are transported across Bihar and Jharkhand will impact their income substantially amid soaring prices of diesel, which touched its highest mark - Rs 74.47 in Patna on Wednesday.

The response in the wake of the IOC's decision to cut the cost of transporting LPG cylinders by more than 50 per cent, which were last time finalised four years ago. However, the negotiation between the union representatives and officials of the petroleum company on Thursday failed to reach consensus over increasing rates of transporting cylinders.

Jitendra Kumar Singh, the president of Bihar-Jharkhand LPG Packed Transporters' Union, said: "Our executive body has decided to suspend the lifting of cylinders from bottling plants to protest the IOCL move to cut the rates at which cylinders are transported from bottling plants, adversely impacting the income of people engaged in this business."

"The cost of running trucks has increased substantially but the company has slashed the charges payable to the transporters," Jitendra said.

The Telegraph tried to contact the IOCL Bihar state office but the landline number remained busy despite several attempts.

The IOCL has revised the rates on August 16, cutting the rate of transportation from Rs 82 per cylinder per kilometre as per the existing tender to Rs 40.20 of Gidha bottling plant in Ara, Bhojpur district. Earlier, IOCL also reduced transportation cost by 16 per cent from its Muzaffarpur bottling plant six months ago but later continued with the previous rates after transporters protested.

General secretary of the transporters' union Anil Kumar Singh said: "Transporters of five bottling plants in Gidha in Ara, Barauni, Muzaffarpur, Bokaro and Jamshedpur will halt operations from August 27 to 29. We will go on an indefinite strike if the IOCL does not consider our demands to raise the cost of transporting cylinders."

But transporters associated with the Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum will not take part in the strike.

"The strike will badly hit the supply of Indane Gas of IOCL and those having single bottle connection will suffer the most. However, for transporters, it will be difficult to continue working with the rising cost of fuel."

According to suppliers, over one lakh LPG cylinders are supplied in Patna everyday. The strike will affect consumers badly.

Anand Mohan, the vice-president of the union, said: "The cost of diesel was Rs 52 per litre three years ago but it has now touched Rs 74 mark, which has made continuing ferrying cylinders difficult besides the multiple-fold increase in vehicle registration tax, insurance charges and road permit tax."