South Calcutta woke up to traffic mayhem on Monday with auto drivers angry over the shortage of LPG stations holding rush-hour commuters to ransom even as transport minister Ranjit Kundu accused oil companies of reneging on their commitment.

Around 200 auto drivers split into groups and blocked Baghajatin More, Sulekha More, Jadavpur 8B crossing, Garia intersection and the Patuli-Baishnabghata crossing from 9.15am to 10.30am, shouting slogans demanding more filling stations.

This comes within 48 hours of traffic on the Bypass-Gariahat connector being paralysed on Saturday evening by autos at the LPG station not far from the Ruby Hospital roundabout.

Transport minister Kundu said the shortage of LPG was not only a breach of promise by the oil companies but also a hurdle in enforcing the high court’s order that autos should only run on gas.

“We are talking to the oil companies and monitoring the situation every fortnight, but they are not keeping their commitment on some pretext or the other. I met some officials last Friday and they promised to set up at least four more filling stations soon,” he added.

On allegations about some auto operators illegally using domestic LPG, the transport minister said he was inquiring into it. “It’s extremely risky,” he admitted.

According to an Indian Oil official, five additional filling stations are set to come up over the next three months, taking the number of auto LPG outlets in the city to 26. “We hope to have the five new stations up and running by September. Space is a problem in Calcutta, though,” said Abhijit De, senior area manager of Indian Oil.

Tushar Sen, the president of the West Bengal Petrol Pump Dealers’ Association, said setting up a gas station was difficult. “To get a gas station licence, one needs to have around 6,000sq ft of space with 80ft front clearance. Also, there can’t be any school, hospital or nursing home within 50 metres of the station. If these rules are enforced, barely five petrol pumps in the city can sell auto LPG,” he explained.

The morning blockades on Monday reduced traffic to a crawl from Garia to Dhakuria for almost two hours, affecting everyone from students to office-goers.

Stranded nursing student Sangita Bhadra, on her way to MR Bangur Hospital to write her physiology exam, was almost in tears. “My exam starts at 10am and I am already late by 20 minutes. I don’t know if I will be allowed to write the paper,” Sangita told Metro.

Police resorted to lathicharge around 10.30am to disperse the protesters and detained two of them. Both were released later.

Kalyan Mandal, one of the protesters, said the government should have ensured adequate supply of LPG before asking the auto operators to go green. “I visit either the Taratala pump or the one on Prince Anwar Shah Road, where the queues are invariably long. Local drivers often jump the queue. The 8kg limit per visit is also a big hassle.”

Green activist Subhash Dutta, who had initiated the campaign against two-stroke three-wheelers, blamed the oil companies for the auto LPG crisis in town.