Govt gets tough on oil strike, says no need to panic
Written by sanju singh
Monday, 05 January 2009
06 Jan 2009;timesofindia.indiatimes.com;NEW DELHI: After executives of state-owned oil industry rejected all peace overtures, the government on Monday decided to take gloves off and reveal its iron fist against their planned strike from Wednesday, even as it assured consumers of uninterrupted supplies and appealed against panic buying of motor and kitchen fuels. The Centre asked states to invoke drastic laws meant for maintaining essential supplies. In places where such laws are not available, the National Security Act will be applied. Simultaneously, the oil companies are moving contempt proceedings as the strike has been called despite the Delhi High Court's stay. They are also rotating personnel not under the strike call to man key posts. Despite the tough measures, oil minister Murli Deora hoped the government will not have to use them. "I appeal them against striking work. This is not the time. It will hurt the economy and people. The PM has set up a mechanism for redressal. But still if they stick to their guns, they will have to face the music.'' In the same vein, petroleum secretary R S Pandey too said, "I believe in the goodness of basic human nature''. A strike seems certain at this point as the agitating officers rejected even an offer to explain their grievances against new salaries to a ministerial panel under home minister P Chidambaram. Pandey had succeeded in persuading Chidambaram to let the association office-bearers themselves explain their grouse. The committee was set up after Deora personally took up the issue with the PM. The strike, if it happens, will not affect the marketplace for 3-4 days if there is no panic buying. One, Hindustan Petroleum officers are not joining and GAIL and Oil India executives have assured they will not hamper operations. Private refiners Reliance Industries and Essar have also been put on notice to supply fuels if need be. "There is no shortage of products. We have 30 days' supplies in stock. The important thing is loading them into truck- and rail-tankers or push through pipelines. For a few days, there will be no affect. But if the strike goes on for long, then we need to see the how the situation works out,'' IndianOil chairman Sarthak Behuria said. On its part, Oil Sector Officers Association (OSOA), representing 45,000 oil PSU executives, tried to rope in pump owners. Ajay Bansal of the pump owners' federation said they sympathise with the oil executives and will "lend support'' if need be.
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