Petrol pumps in many parts of the country went dry and more are expected to run out of stock by Friday as the indefinite strike by oil PSU officers entered the second day on Thursday, provoking the government to ask company managements to sack close to 70 executives leading the stir.
Nearly 30 per cent of petrol pumps in Delhi and about 100 in Mumbai went without petrol and diesel, while there is a minimum 7-day wait period for delivery of domestic LPG gas.
At the airports, absence of officers led to delay in refuelling of airplanes and some flight were delayed. CNG pumps in Mumbai went without gas after officers in ONGC stopped natural gas production off Mumbai shore. Delhi may also see a CNG crisis on Friday.
Meanwhile, after Delhi and Assam, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra invoked ESMA to ensure uninterrupted fuel supplies.
The situation may worsen in next couple of days as talks with Oil Sector Officers Association failed. OSOA, which did not turn up for talks with Petroleum Minister Murli Deora on Wednesday evening, stuck to its stand for immediate sanction of higher wages in 14 PSUs.
Delhi and Uttar Pradesh Police raided an IOC premises in Noida, near here, where OSOA leaders had gathered after hiding for two days, but no one including President Amit Kumar, could be arrested as they made good escape during the lien the company management took from them to conclude talks.
However, the two ONGC officers arrested on Wednesday were released by the court on condition that they give an undertaking not to strike or instigate it.
Questioning the government's move to invoke ESMA, AIMTC president Charan Singh Lohara said, "We have not disrupted transportation of essential commodities and other important goods. Then why is the government treating us like this?"
As the strike entered the fourth day, prices of food items are reported to have showing signs of going northward in some wholesale markets in the country, including in Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh and Kanpur. Petrol pumps in various parts of the country have been affected due to the strike.
The transporters claimed that the toll tax, which were agreed upon to be rolled back to rates prior to December 2007 levels and frozen for a year as agreed in July last year, had been violated. This was one of the contentious issues.
Truckers have taken their vehicles off the road since Sunday midnight on a call by AIMTC demanding reduction in diesel prices, exemption in service and toll taxes and a single permit for nationwide transportation, among others.
The strike so far has affected Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Jharkhand and Karnataka. There has also been partial impact in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat.
