Date:10/01/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/10/stories/2009011059271600.htm

National

“CMDs’ role” in oil strike to be probed

Sujay Mehdudia

NEW DELHI: The government is learnt to have ordered an “internal inquiry” into the role of the heads of the oil marketing companies (OMCs) in “encouraging” the officers of the Oil Sector Officers Association (OSOA) to go on strike in support of their demands and not making adequate contingency plans to avert a crisis.

Official sources said the matter came up for discussion at various levels on Friday, including at the Crisis Management Group meeting where it was informed by various agencies that some of the CMDs played a negative role in the whole episode that led to the present chaos. It was pointed out that certain CMDs “indirectly” backed the officers to strike work to put pressure on the Petroleum Ministry to concede their demands.

The sources said the role of the top-most management of Indian Oil Corporation had especially come under the scanner for having failed to anticipate the situation, and in fact encouraging the officers to resort to such direct action.

IOC Chairman and Managing Director Sarthak Behuria has come under fire from various quarters for having openly supported the demands of the employees by writing a letter in this regard to the Ministry as well as the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises in his capacity as chairman of the Standing Conference of Public Enterprises (SCOPE).

“Mr. Behuria should have refrained from such an action as this aggravated matters and emboldened the OSOA personnel. There was a clear conflict of interest between his role as the SCOPE chairman and that as the CMD of country’s largest retail chain of petroleum products.” In fact, it was the IOC facilities, including petrol pumps, that ran dry almost 24 hours of the strike with no back-up plan.