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Indian Oil Adani Gas snaps PNG supply at medical college in Kerala
Indian Oil Adani Gas Pvt Ltd. (IOAGPL) snapped the supply of piped natural gas (PNG) to commercial establishments at Ernakulam Medical College on Tuesday as authorities refused to pay the security deposit.
PNG was supplied to three hostels and a Kudumbashree canteen at the college. However, supply of PNG supply to residences were not disrupted.
But, medical college authorities said that IOAGPL had earlier said that no extra charges would be levied on them other than usage charges.
“The company, while establishing the connections, had publicly declared that no extra charges would be levied. Last month, they issued a notice asking us to pay a sum of Rs 92,000 as security deposit,” said principal of government school of nursing Thankamony T Alex.
The canteen was asked to pay Rs 1.58 lakh as deposit.
The supply, which was stopped around 2pm, created a panic at both hostels and the canteen. Lunch was delayed.
One of the hostels had already reverted from PNG to LPG few months ago citing more expenses.
College authorities received two letters on November 4 and November 10.
The last letter had warned of disconnection in case of failing to pay the amount. “The expense of the mess is met by pooling cash from students. Our students are from economically-backward and middleclass families. For them, it would be a burden to pay the huge bills. We had asked the hostels to switch over to LPG various times after we found PNG expensive,” said Thankamony.
Earlier, a medical college authorities met IOAGPL officials – including Ajay Pillai, deputy general manager to discuss the issue. “We had agreed to seek the government’s opinion. IOAGPL agreed to wait until government took a decision. Now, their move to end supply is nothing short of arrogance,” said principal of Government Medical College, Ernakulam, Sreekala VK.
“We had chosen PNG as they told us that this would be cheaper. But from the first month they added an extra amount of Rs 6,000 every month as additional tax. Now they have imposed another huge amount,” said Sudha Raveendran, a member of the Kudumbashree canteen.
Ajay Pillai claimed that the firm was affected as the parties had not paid the amount. “We had been telling them to pay the amount. A final decision on resuming supply has not been taken,” he said. Stacy McGee Womens Jersey
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