18 PSU oil co officers suspended on Day 1

NEW DELHI: Production at four refineries of Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and Oil & Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) was disrupted following an indefinite strike called by 14 PSU oil companies��� officers on Wednesday. However, normal production continued at other PSU refineries and the strike didn���t affect fuel supplies at petrol pumps in the country, an oil ministry official said. Oil Sector Officers Association (OSOA), representing about 45,000 members, called for the strike, demanding higher wages.

Meanwhile, PSU oil companies have suspended about 18 officials. ���The police has also arrested over a dozen officials including OSOA president Amit Kumar for defying the High Court���s order,��� an official in the petroleum ministry, who wished not to be named, said. Mr Kumar could not be contacted. The Federation of All India Petroleum Traders (FAIPT) secretary general Ajay Bansal confirmed his arrest. FAIPT has been supporting OSOA.

Mr Bansal said that ���the government should try to resolve the issue at the earliest as petrol pumps might go dry in a couple of days across the country if strike is not called off���. At the time of going to press, the government was trying to persuade the officials to end the strike.

Petroleum ministry said that no shortage of petrol or diesel was reported from any part of the country. ���We have contingency plans ready so that the common man does not suffer,��� petroleum minister Murli Deora said. Earlier, in the afternoon, Mr Deora and oil secretary RS Pandey met CEOs of PSU oil companies and discussed the future course of action.
An official in IOC said that it is maintaining a normal supply of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) at airports. However, in a few cases, flights got delayed by 30-40 minutes over the issue.

���Not all officers are taking part in the strike. It is limited to officers below the rank of deputy general manager. We will do our best to maintain fuel supplies,��� GAIL India chairman & managing director UD Choubey said. The strike has affected operations of mainly ONGC and IOC. While operations at Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) is marginally affected, work at Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) is normal, an official in the oil ministry said

���The strike is unjustified,��� petroleum secretary RS Sharma said. The government had already notified a pay package for all public sector oil undertakings (PSUs) including oil sector PSUs. ���The revised pay package provides a substantial increase in emoluments at all levels. The oil sector officers also enjoy the best perquisites among all PSUs in the country,��� he said.

According to an oil ministry���s calculation, salary hikes of some of the OSOA office bearers ranged from 20-50%. ���After the hike, gross salary of one of OSOA���s main executives for January 2007 went up to Rs 1,29,122 from Rs 85,782 for the same month,��� an internal note of the oil ministry said.