Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi, Jan 09: The strike by oil and petroleum PSUs is almost over and the situation will become normal by 8 pm in the evening, Oil Minister Murli Deora said on Friday.
Briefing media over the ongoing oil strike, the ‘illegal’ strike, running for the past two days, seems to be over.
Deora said that overall situation is improving. He said that Oil India Ltd and BPCL have called off the strike and work will be resumed soon.
According to Petroleum Secretary RS Pandey, the situation in the states all over India is as follows:
HPJ pipeline will soon resume work and Bombay Gas Supplies have been improving since last night. He added that the general situation at all petrol pumps in metros is considerably improving.
Out of 362 oil outlets of BPCL in four metros, some of them have resumed operation. However, situation is going to improve further.
Out of 389 oil outlets of IOC, 62 are operational and loading has started in many places.
In Delhi, all HPCL pumps are operational and BPCL and IOC have 80 and 20 pumps operational.
In Mumbai, BPCL has 90 and IOC has 10 operational pumps.
In Kolkata, BPCL has 60 and IOC has 20 operational pumps.
In Chennai, BPCL and IOC are returning to normalcy in their operation.
Without mincing words, Deora warned all the striking officials to resume work otherwise be ready to face strict action under ESMA and National Security Act. Given the fact ONGC and GAIL have already sacked 65 and 3 employees respectively, workers were asked to resume their work or face job loss.
PM asks Deora to take firm action against oil strike
With the country facing acute fuel shortage because of the strike by oil PSU officers, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today asked Petroleum Minister Murli Deora to take firm action to deal with the crisis.
"The Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Secretary have been instructed by the Prime Minister to take firm action," Home Minister P Chidambaram told reporters after a meeting of the Cabinet, which was briefed on the situation this morning.
Chidambaram, who has been asked by the Prime Minister to head a committee to resolve the grievances of the oil PSU officers, said the Centre has advised state governments to take firm action.
"Firm action is being taken and will be taken," he added.
The Crisis Management Group headed by Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar took certain decisions to deal with the situation, he said.
"Those decisions have been communicated to the state governments as well as to other authorities and those decisions will be implemented," the Home Minister said without elaborating.
First Published: Friday, January 09, 2009, 00:00