Oil PSU Execs Call Off

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[Within hours of the government cracking down on them, ordering arrests and calling in the Army, the oil PSU executives on Friday evening called off their three-day-old strike, which had crippled fuel supplies and affected power generation in the country. &quot;Everything will be normal by tomorrow,&quot; Oil Minister Murli Deora said giving relief to millions of commuters, who were starved of fuel due to a majority of petrol pumps and CNG fuelling stations going dry because of the agitation. Army was called in to manage loading and dispatches to petrol pumps as the Government ordered arrests and dismissals of officers keeping off work. The move cracked the Oil Sector Officers Association, with Bharat Petroleum, the second largest retailer, walking out of the agitation instantly. With 67 executives of ONGC and Indian Oil already terminated and more lists being drawn, the other constituents of OSOA in bits and pieces withdrew from the agitation that had also delayed domestic and international flights. &quot;No-Stock&quot; signboards at IOC's over 12,000 petrol pumps irked Chairman Sarthak Behuria to send a list of officers to district authorities with instruction for arrest if they did not join duty. OSOA was unhappy with the hike in salaries approved by the Government and brought key refineries and oil and gas fields to a grinding halt. &quot;While petrol pumps are likely to see normal supplies by tomorrow, it will take up to a week for the stalled refineries and fields to resume normal operations,&quot; an official said. CNG operations in Mumbai, which had also been crippled due to the strike yesterday, had started restoring even before the strike broke after Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan gave the striking officers time till 0800 hrs to resume gas supplies or face the music. OSOA President Amit Kumar, who had been in hiding since the strike began on January 7, stated that OSOA withdrew the strike late this evening on assurances given by Deora for considering their demands at a meeting with him last night. But Deora countered this, saying no assurance had been given and OSOA demands would be considered by a committee of ministers headed by Home Minister P Chidambaram. Incidentally, Amit Kumar had after meeting which went well past midnight, had stated that talks had failed and OSOA would continue its stir. Asked if the government would revoke termination of 67 officers, Petroleum Secretary said, &quot;It is for the companies to decide. We have no role in this.&quot; First, the Crisis Management Group decided to summon Army to man key installations that send fuel to petrol pumps and aviation turbine fuel to airports. Then Chidambaram said the Centre had advised state governments to take firm action. &quot;Firm action is being taken and will be taken,&quot; he said after the Cabinet meeting where Deora briefed on the crisis. In less than a couple of hours of this, Bharat Petroleum, the nation's second largest retailer, reported return of 70 per cent of its officers back on duty and later 100 per cent compliance. This triggered others in GAIL, Oil India, Engineers India and finally IOC to do so. ONGC Chairman R S Sharma who had been camping in Hazira, the landfall point of gas coming off nation's biggest field in the western offshore, convinced his officers to resume production, leading to withdrawal of strike in the company. Stopping of gas production from Bassein and adjoining fields had resulted in shutdown of power and fertiliser plants and Sharma said partial output may be restored by tomorrow. ONGC also restored gas from its Mumbai High fields, the source of compressed natural gas that runs some two lakh buses, taxis and autos. As many as 138 CNG stations would be fully functional by tonight, Oil Secretary R S Pandey said. Behuria said OSOA was unreasonable in asking the Government to concede to their demands immediately. &quot;They were holding the country to ransom.&quot; OSOA struck work on January 7 to press for higher wages, and stopped oil and gas output and disrupted fuel supplies that brought road traffic to a halt and delayed domestic and international flights. About 12,000 petrol pumps of the largest fuel retailer, Indian Oil, and over 3,000 of BPCL were out of stock, leading to mile-long queues at HPCL outlets. Mumbai on Thursday ran out of CNG, but situation in Delhi was normal as it had enough stocks to last seven to 10 days. &quot;All resources of government including the Army will be harnessed to deal with a very difficult situation created by oil officers, who are rather well paid,&quot; Pandey said earlier in the day while summarising the events of the last three days including the failure of talks with OSOA late last night. Deora, who also briefed the Cabinet on the crisis, said, &quot;Cabinet showed total solidarity with the ministry and oil companies. We have been given a mandate to use all resources available with the government to restore supplies.&quot; ONGC officers forced company's oil production from fields off the Mumbai Coast fall by more than 50 per cent to 170,000 barrels per day. Besides 90 per cent of the gas from Mumbai High field was cut due to the stir. With almost 70 per cent of the output being stopped from Bassein and adjoining fields, supplies on Hazira-Vijaipur- Jagdishpur pipeline stopped, shutting 17 urea units and three power plants. GAIL Chairman and Managing Director U D Choubey said HVJ pipeline will be re-commissioned by tomorrow and supplies would resume once the transportation company receives gas from ONGC. (PTI)