Strike at Haldia Petro, expansion programme halted

November 21, 2009 10:46 pm | Updated 10:46 pm IST - KOLKATA

DARK CLOUDS: The Haldia refinery complex of IOC. Expansion work ground to a halt as protests continue. Photo: Sushanta Patronobish

DARK CLOUDS: The Haldia refinery complex of IOC. Expansion work ground to a halt as protests continue. Photo: Sushanta Patronobish

Temporary workers demand better wages, absorption on company’s rolls

The ongoing expansion project at eastern region’s biggest integrated petrochemical company, Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL), came to a halt following a strike by the contractors’ workers union. The temporary workers employed at HPL site went on a strike demanding better wages and absorption on the company’s rolls. The expansion project is already running behind schedule.

A management spokesperson said in a statement that there were ongoing conciliation proceedings towards settlement of charter of demands between HPL and HPL Contractors’ Workers Union on Friday in the presence of Additional Labour Commissioner, in the course of which the Union served notice of an indefinite strike effective Saturday.

“The strike has started since this morning and the ongoing work for the implementation of ‘Project Supermax’ has thus come to a halt at the moment,” the management admitted. The cost of the project, at around Rs. 1,200 crore, has doubled owing to the delay due to various reasons.

The project does not have a direct employment potential but is expected to create sizable indirect employment opportunities through the downstream units that will come up in the region.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.