Raiganj: Members of INTTUC staged a protest at Debinagar in Raiganj, North Dinajpur district on Thursday, alleging widespread black marketing of LPG cylinders, overcharging and severe harassment of consumers.
The agitation, which continued for several hours, highlighted growing public dissatisfaction over irregular supply and faulty delivery mechanisms. According to local residents, booking LPG cylinders through the online system has become increasingly difficult and even after booking, delivery is often delayed by more than a fortnight.
As a result, long queues are seen daily in front of LPG distributors in Raiganj, with many consumers forced to wait for hours. Several alleged that despite paying official delivery charges, they were compelled to spend additional amounts ranging between Rs 60 and Rs 80 to collect cylinders from godowns.
The demonstrators warned of a larger movement if the situation does not improve soon.
Minati Rout, an elderly resident, said she had to stand in a queue for over four hours just to obtain a delivery slip and was later asked to arrange transport at extra cost to carry the cylinder home.
Kaushik Dey, INTTUC district general secretary, alleged: “Some delivery personnel were illegally selling LPG cylinders at higher prices in the open market, while distributors failed to take action. He also pointed out that recent price hikes have worsened the burden on consumers. People are not getting cylinder booking less than 35 days from a delivery. So the cooking of midday meals in schools and ICDs centers is seriously being affected. If the condition does not improve in a short period, we will beef up our protest programmes.”