Within hours of going on an indefinite strike, employees of public sector oil companies called off their stir after the government agreed on higher interim relief on Tuesday.
New Delhi, Aug 21 : Within hours of going on an indefinite strike, employees of public sector oil companies called off their stir after the government agreed on higher interim relief on Tuesday.
"We had talks with the Petroleum Minister Murli Deora this morning and he has agreed on higher interim relief for the period from January 1, 2007, when wage revision was due," Oil Sector Officers Association (OSOA) coordinator R P Srivastava said.
Around 45,000 officers of the 12 state-owned oil firms, under the banner of Oil Sector Officers' Association (OSOA), had gone on strike this morning, demaidng higher wages and release of ad hoc payment.
They were also demanding periodicity of salary revision and 50 percent merger of dearness allowance with basic pay as on January 2005. Companies like Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp and Hindustan Petroleum Corp were among those on strike.
Sanjay Goel, President of officers union in ONGC, said the Petroleum Ministry had accepted their demand for giving an interim relief of Rs 60,000-1,20,000 per employee.
Last evening, OSOA had rejected Rs 50,000-1,00,000 interim payment which was offer to him by Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora.
Deora had termed the strike as 'unfortunate'.
The Petroleum Ministry had declared the strike illegal as various High Courts had refrained the officers from taking such an action. Besides being liable of contempt of court, the officers also faced severe disciplinary action.
Last year, the association had planned to go on strike in September, but called it off following assurances from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
ANI