New Delhi, Feb 27: Opposing the government's decision to privatise oil majors HPCL and BPCL, trade union activists today threatened to go on a three-day strike from March 25. "Since the government has so far not paid any heed to our demand to reverse the decision to privatise HPCL and BPCL, we have decided to go on a strike from March 25-27,” secretary of Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) S Dev Roye announced at a press conference here. Emphasising that the oil sector was of "strategic importance" both from the economic point of view and national security, Roye said privatisation of profit-making oil PSUs was "against the interests of the country, people and employees." About 26,000 employees would participate in the proposed strike, which would include about 30 trade unions of various affiliations functioning in HPCL and BPCL, he claimed.
While this was a "warning", Roye said the strike would be intensified to involve the entire oil sector, if the government did not give a positive response to their demands. Roye also warned of a "serious crisis" situation arising in the country in the event of a war in the Gulf region if the oil sector was privatised.
Bureau Report