A tense situation unfolded at Indian Oil Corporation’s LPG bottling plant in Budge Budge on the southern outskirts of Kolkata, after truck drivers protesting pending dues allegedly released gas from several cylinders, prompting fears of a potential explosion.
The incident drew strong criticism from Suvendu Adhikari, Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, who posted a video of the protest on X, calling it a “catastrophic near-miss” and accusing the ruling Trinamul Congress (TMC) of enabling a dangerous syndicate culture. Adhikari blamed local TMC leaders for escalating tensions at the plant, including Sheikh Jahangir, a district-level party observer and a “close aide” of Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee. “A single spark could have engulfed the entire bottling plant, nearby colleges, hospitals, and residential areas in a deadly inferno. This is not governance, it’s anarchy,” Adhikari said in a statement.
According to police and company officials, operations at the Budge Budge plant—responsible for refilling around 45,000 LPG cylinders daily—were suspended on Monday after a section of truck drivers launched a protest over two years of unpaid dues. Protesters reportedly blocked movement of filled trucks inside the facility and opened cylinder valves during the agitation, prompting fire services to rush to the spot. Clashes broke out on Tuesday after a failed negotiation attempt between protesters and local TMC leaders.
Several motorcycles were vandalised and at least 11 were damaged during the violence. Police and RAF units were deployed, and multiple arrests were made to restore order, authorities said. Senior police officials, including Diamond Harbour district Superintendent Rahul Goswami, visited the site. Police reportedly used batons to disperse the crowd. No casualties have been reported. Attempts to reach Jahangir Khan for comment were unsuccessful.
The Trinamul Congress has not issued a formal statement on the incident. Indian Oil officials said that bottling operations were temporarily halted due to unresolved issues in a wage agreement signed in September last year. To prevent a supply disruption, Indian Oil has redirected LPG cylinders from its facilities in Haldia, Durgapur, Kalyani and Kharagpur.
However, sources warned that if the situation remains unresolved, customers in Salt Lake, New Town, North and South 24-Parganas, Kolkata, and parts of Howrah could face cooking gas shortages over the next 3-4 days, incident comes nearly a year after a similar wage-related standoff disrupted operations at Indian Oil’s Kalyani LPG bottling plant, raising broader concerns over labour relations and operational security at critical energy infrastructure sites in the state.