
petrol bunk
Petrol pumps in many parts of the country went dry and more are expected to run out of stock by
Friday as the indefinite strike by oil PSU officers entered the second day today. This provoked the government to ask company managements to sack close to 70 executives leading the stir.
There are 32,000 fuel pumps in India out of which about 50% are out of stock.
· In Delhi, half the pumps have run out of fuel.
· In Mumbai too, more than 100 of the 250 pumps are dry.
· The situation is little better in Kolkata with 30% pumps out of stock so far. But in Chennai, it’s as bad as Delhi with half the city’s pumps going dry.
With jet fuel supply also hit, flights have been delayed. In Mumbai, over 70 flights were running behind schedule.
The strike also had an impact on oil and gas production with four key refineries now running below capacity and their output is down by 30%.
Mumbai went without gas after officers in ONGC stopped natural gas production off Mumbai shore. Delhi may also see a CNG crisis tomorrow.
The Petroleum Ministry says they are going to pressurise the officers into calling off their strike. The Indian Oil Corporation has already sacked 10 officers.
Speaking to NDTV, Petroleum Secretary R S Pandey said that their action was totally illegal
Meanwhile, after Delhi and Assam, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra invoked ESMA to ensure uninterrupted fuel supplies.
The situation may worsen in next couple of days as talks with Oil Sector Officers Association failed. OSOA, which did not turn up for talks with Petroleum Minister Murli Deora on Wednesday evening, stuck to its stand for immediate sanction of higher wages in 14 PSUs.
Delhi and Uttar Pradesh Police raided an IOC premises in Noida, near here, where OSOA leaders had gathered after hiding for two days, but no one including President Amit Kumar, could be arrested as they made good escape during the lien the company management took from them to conclude talks.
However, the two ONGC officers arrested on Wednesday were released by the court on condition that they give an undertaking not to strike or instigate i