The LPG Marketers Association has called off its 48-hour strike, following government’s intervention.
Members of the Association had embarked on a strike to protest government’s planned implementation of the cylinder re-circulation policy which they say will collapse their business.
The Association’s strike caused a lot of discomfort to many consumers across the country, as they were turned away from private gas stations due to the strike.
The action resulted in serious congestion and long queues at Goil gas stations across the country, which were the only gas filling points operating.
The spokesperson for the LPG Marketers, Gabriel Kumi, said the Association called off the strike after a meeting with the Energy Minister.
He further indicated that the Association “did not want to stress their consumers who were struggling because of the strike.”
LPG marketers and gas tanker operators have all kicked against the module which they say will destroy the gas retail industry they have built over the last 25 years.
They have accused the government of conniving with some foreign investors to implement the programME and eventually kick them out of business.
As part of the module, gas cylinders will no longer be filled up as gas retail outlets, but cylinders will be bought from distributors each them it runs out.
International firms behind re-circulation programme
The Association had also alleged that some giant multinational companies were behind the government’s decision to implement the Cylinder Re-circulation Model of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) distribution.
The Association has consistently maintained that the policy will cripple all local LPG businesses if the government goes ahead with the implementation.
When did the re-circulation policy surface?
President Nana Akufo-Addo ordered the implementation of the Cylinder Re-circulation Model of LPG distribution in October 2017, following the public outcry in the wake of the massive explosion at an LPG filling station at Atomic Junction.
The President of the LPG Operators Association, Torgbi Adaku V had however insisted that the policy was not a panacea to explosions at LPG filling stations.
In the Association’s view, better vigilance by the Fire Service and the NPA were better safety options than the Cylinder Re-circulation Policy, which they say was abandoned in a previous incarnation in the 1980s.
Source:citi
