Court satisfied with safety gear provided to LPG deliverymen

A division bench comprising Justice M Sathyanarayanan and Justice Pushpa Sathyanrayana made the observation while closing a plea moved by T Sivakumar, State vice president of Tamil Nadu LPG Cylinder Deliverymen’s Employees Union. The plea had claimed that despite the serious outbreak of COVID-19, the oil marketing companies and their distributors had failed to take any effective steps to provide the deliverymen with necessary preventive measures such as N95 safety masks, gloves, sanitisers, etc.

It was also pleaded that if a delivery person contracts the virus and succumbs to it, there must be a proper Insurance coverage of Rs 25 lakh to the family of the deceased.

However, the bench observed that the various companies have put in place proper and effective mechanism for the safety of deliverymen. “In the light of the stand taken by the Oil Corporations in their counter affidavits, no further orders are necessary in this writ petition. The bench also recorded the oil companies’ submission that necessary instructions/advisories have been issued to all the distributors and delivery boys while making refill delivery. That apart, the distributors have also provided masks, gloves and sanitisers to all the delivery staff.”

On insurance coverage, it was stated that the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh to the kin of the deliveryman in the event of death due to COVID-19 while making deliveries, and Rs 1 lakh towards treatment of deliverymen who get infected.

The petitioner’s counsel submitted that though the counter affidavits speak about the effective and preventive measures, the same has not been put in place in practice, and added that the sums of Rs 5 lakh and Rs 1 lakh was only a pittance when compared to the hardships undergone by the delivery personnel.