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Saturday, Jan 10, 2009
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Oil sector strike called off

Sujay Mehdudia

Officers of PSUs back down after Centre takes firm stand

— PHOTO: AP

PANIC BUYING: Vehicles line up at a petrol station in New Delhi on Friday following disruption in supplies caused by the oil sector strike. The strike was later called off.

NEW DELHI: Faced with a strong crackdown by the government and its refusal to negotiate, the Oil Sectors Officers Association (OSOA), representing 14-oil PSUs, on Friday evening announced that it was calling off its strike with immediate effect.

The decision came after the government made it clear that it was in no mood to negotiate. The tough stand taken by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Union Cabinet, along with “adverse public reaction” to the actions of the OSOA, also led to the decision. The outcome was almost certain by noon when employees of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited and Oil India Limited called off their strike leading to cracks in the agitation. By evening, Indian Oil Corporation and Gas Authority of India Limited unions’ also announced their decision to end the strike, closely followed by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), whose employee Amit Kumar is also the president of the OSOA.

Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora said all oil PSUs decided to return to work. The managements and employees of HPCL, IOC, BPCL and ONGC would work on Saturday and Sunday also to ensure that supply of petroleum products was restored to the normal levels as soon as possible. “It is unfortunate that the agitating PSU officers unions’ took so long to end the strike. It has led to harassment of the common man and disruption in services of petroleum products along with a massive revenue loss to the exchequer,” he added. Mr. Deora said the inter-ministerial group headed by Home Minister P. Chidambaram was ready to meet employees and listen to their genuine grievances.

Earlier, during the day the Army was deployed at certain strategic locations, including the Mathura refinery, Hazira, Palam and Navashiva. The decision to deploy the Army and put the Indian Air Force on standby was taken at meeting of the Crisis Management Group headed by Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar.

The State governments were asked to deal firmly with the striking employees and take any action required, including invoking the Essential Services Maintenance Act and the National Security Act and arresting them.

Petronet LNG also resumed gas supplies to the tune of 7mmscmd, promising to take up the supply to 18 mmscmd by Saturday. The ONGC facility at Bombay High was also starting operations under the supervision of ONGC CMD R.S. Sharma.

Dr. Singh and the Cabinet totally backed the Petroleum Ministry and asked it to deal with the strike with a firm hand.

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