Mangaluru : Hundreds of drivers of ‘bullet tankers’ (bulk tankers transporting LPG by road) on Wednesday staged a protest in front of Hindustan Petroleum Corporations’ LPG filling unit near Surathkal, demanding immediate arrest of culprits who had beaten one of their colleagues to death in Andhra Pradesh.
Led by Centre of Indian Trade Union and Democratic Youth Federation of India, the drivers started their protest march from DYFI office in Kana.
CITU District President J. Balakrishna Shetty, DYFI District Vice President B.K. Imtiyaz and others led the protesting drivers.
The protesting drivers said driver Sharavana and cleaner Thangaraju were assaulted by miscreants in Charlapalli in Andhra Pradesh about 20 days ago. The miscreants, driving a car, were angry that the driver did not allow their car to overtake the tanker, which was transporting LPG to Andhra Pradesh. After the assault, the miscreants threw the victims down the flyover, resulting in the death of the driver. The cleaner is in a critical condition.
DYFI and CITU demanded immediate action to bring the accused to book and also suitable protection for the crew of tankers. Driver across Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Tamil Nadu have been on strike, a release from DYFI here said.