Owners of LPG tanker lorries in Namakkal, who had stopped loading gas from Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) plants to demand the settlement of ₹50 crore in pending freight charges, have withdrawn their strike following intervention from the Union Petroleum Ministry.
Alleging that IOCL did not pay freight charges for four months, the tanker lorries stopped loading gas from IOCL plants on Monday (April 27, 2026) morning. Over 500 tankers scheduled for loading participated in the strike, though operations continued at other oil company plants.
Southern Region Bulk LPG Transport Owners’ Association president Sundararajan stated that IOCL owes between ₹5 lakh and ₹35 lakh in freight charges for each lorry for the past four months. “Despite sending numerous reminders to IOCL officials, no action was taken. As a result, starting Monday morning, lorries scheduled to load gas at IOCL facilities alone went on strike.”
“On Monday afternoon, the officials from the Union Petroleum Ministry and IOCL spoke to us and began releasing payments for the lorries. They also assured to release all pending freight charges within two days. Based on that assurance, the strike was withdrawn in the evening and the lorries, as usual, picked up loads from the IOCL plants,” Mr. Sundararajan added.
